Broken Universe: Unicron Saga
by dragonridley
Summary: In one of the many Universes within a Multiverse, a time of change was about to occur, and the head of this change, the figure who sees it all occur, is a simple Mobian boy named Chad Malyan. This is the beginning, the first signs, from a Dark Soul to a Planet Eater. A once old MSN story between friends.
1. Hero Base

Alright, Disclaimer:

I, Dragonridley, do not own ANY of the characters apart from a few that I will say which is mine when they appear.

Chad and Anna belong to KeybladerChad

Any background stories of the characters that is not canon is purely made up for this story.

Not all events that all the characters have had in their canon backstories have happened in this alternative universe. (e.g Lan and Megaman have never faced the cybeasts greiga and falzer, and the events wth duo have not happened.)

In short, this is non-canon.

All characters other then those named in the first two points are copyrighted and belong to their rightful owners.

All of the characters will be OOC...not all the time though, just...more often then not.

Right, I'm sure I've got my back covered now...lets get on with it.

* * *

In a Multiverse, existed 20 'prime' Universes.

In each of these Universes, the lifeforms existed to a state of constant wars and struggle, a battle of survival forever ran on, until the end of the Universe came, and all life was torn away, only to start all over again, in a new 'cycle'.

Currently, the Multiverse has come to its 13th cycle.

Where we begin, is at the start of the darkest part of an era in one Universe, which Death, the god of…well, Death, in the Multiverse, has called "10.", as in Universe 10. There was but a brief time of peace…before a dark power rose, and triggered along with it, an endless struggle between good and evil, right and wrong. Many armies, bands of people, villains, heroes and those that just accept life, would enter this struggle… and within them, are certain individuals that had the power, to affect the fate of, not only their universe, but many others as well. How did it lead up to this time though? Well…

In the year 1889A.P (A.P stands for "After Primus", A legend who saved this universe from a dark, dark evil that rose in his time. Although they haven't imprinted it into their time, it's been, in fact, over two million, five hundred thousand and 1889 years after primus. But they didn't want to put "2,501,889A.P". Instead, they just reset their year charts at every 100,000 years, and call each time an era. E.g., the last "era" finished 1889 years ago, and was dubbed "the era of understanding". Because there was very few wars during that time… and most of them only lasted between a few planets, never grown to a full universal war.), A new galactic empire was formed after many debates between worlds. And was dubbed, by their leader, Quan Bei of Zelmar VIII, SCI, which stood for "Space Civilization Impleach ("to interweave")".

Their goal? To unite the rest of universe in a great era of peace and prosperity. Many races gladly joined this new unity, and its power grew greatly. But not all accepted this new ideal...their were a few battles for planets, and some were forced to bow before SCI's scientific technology and military power. within 46 years, at Quan Bei passing via heart failure, and at the age of 79, SCI had over 167 galaxies, 7, 418 habitable planets, 475 space stations, 1,043 sub-stations (smaller, and less defended space stations, designed to simply resupply space ships and watch over any sectors that they are in.) and had ten of thousands of war ships, troopers, mechs and battle cruisers under it's control.

When they declared a new leader in 1936A.P, Murriden Beakstand of Quell'Far II, he decided that they should stop expanding, and think of developing their empire. He feared that, if they do not worry about those planets already under their control, they may lose that very control, and have rebellions and wars in the very heart of SCI. although this was a wise choice; this allowed other empires to rise up during his reign. In 1962A.P, they had made contact with a nearby empire by the name of United federation of planets, who wished no hostility towards SCI, and formed an alliance in 1964A.P. then, in 1978A.P; they made contact with another growing empire, by the name of The Galactic Republic. There were a few fights between them, but they formed a peace treaty when SCI pushed the Republic forces away from their border in 1979A.P.

Murridin's reign didn't last much longer after that. In 1982A.P, he passed away at the age of 92. and a new leader took over, by the name of Drak Nafar of Arisen III. Not only did he try to follow Murridin's ideas, but he also tried to bend some of them in order to gain more profit for himself and his own family. Slowly, he changed more and more of Murridin's ideas, until finally, in 2008A.P, his right hand man, Armstrong Houston, who hated Drak's wrong-doings, had been rallying races and planets to help him overthrow Drak. And in that year, he started his mutiny. And behind him, was not only the support of the United federation of planets and the Galactic Republic, but also nearly half of SCI's forces. This new force, which believed that they are going good for the universe, declared themselves as GF (Galactic Federation.).

The war was long and bloody. Both sides would not back down for control. In 2012A.P, the tide of war had finally begun to go into Houston's favour, as certain allies of SCI had begun to defect over for the sake of their people and planets. As more and more planets turned or were forced to submit, the more the remaining SCI forces wanted to give up. In 2013A.P, a band of elite SCI troopers killed Drak and his family, and surrendered over to the GF, thus ending the war.

Peace once again reigned supreme in the GF. One of it's allies though, were not so fortunate in 2018A.P. The Galactic Republic had begun a war against a new rising power called CIS (Confederacy of Independent Systems). This war would lead to the end of the Galactic republic, as they would reform and name themselves the galactic empire when the war with CIS ended in 2021A.P, with the destruction of CIS.

Houston controlled the GF with an iron fist, wanting to make sure that no rebels ever went against his rule. To many, the sense of power has made Houston like Drak. And because of this, many groups of freedom fighters and rebels rose up in the GF to try and overthrow Houston from 2020 all the way up to 2035A.P, fifteen years of bloodshed and war within the GF's territory. in that year, a secret weapon was finally created, and Houston, hearing of what power it held, decided to take it and set it up...when his grand commander, Keaton Al'Keriff, heard of the weapons dangerous potential, he rallied the forces of GF, and Branded Houston a traitor, just to try and stop him from activating this new danger...and he did stop Houston on a small fortress island Houston and those that were loyal to him took over...but, at the cost of Houston's life, who fell in battle. after, Keaton declared himself the new head of the GF forces.

within the next 8 years, a new war had begun, mostly thanks to Keaton deciding to attack the united federation of planets and the galactic empire in a vain hope to take them over. this war would only affect the borders though of all three empires...in the center of the GF, there was finally peace...this is where it all begins..

* * *

The Year is 2043A.P. and on the planet earth X (X for 10. there are, in fact, 25 "earths" in total, but this era is based around this earth.), within a plain, wide open grassland near the border of Canada and Alaska...is a huge, grey, metal round building, with an small, glass dome shape in the center of the roof. it's at least two miles wide all round, with huge windows all the way around it, letting in the sunlight. on the northern side of it, are two huge automatic doors, leading inside…and from within, we can hear the clash of metal.

Nearby the strange place, looking at it from afar, standing within the grassland, allowing the wind to blow freely around him, was an old man, who looked in his 90's, Holding five elaborately decorated, coloured cards known as the "Crane Deck"…This man, was Zuo Ci, who has been seen upon earth V, the Dynasty Warrior world…With him, looking at the place, with it's feathers being blown around by wind, was the believed to be demon Griffon of Devil May Cry, From this earth. Both were standing next to each other.

Griffon looked towards Zuo Ci "I feel the presence of the destined one here Master Zuo Ci..." Zuo Ci seemed to just look carefully at the place...then replied "I agree. He appears to be in this isolated location. Unusual, but then again, we cannot always expect those of his blood to live in some humble village. Years have come and gone, the worlds have changed…a pity that the threat he will encounter soon, has not."

This place, That the two looked upon, is called the "Hero Base". although it's name is…nothing special, it's creators, the fabled Dr Albert Wily and Dr Light, didn't take time on the name, but rather, on what it's purpose is for, and how it fits for all the heroes that will gather here. the reason for this place, was for their wanting to understand what type of heroes that were out there...well, not only heroes, but also villains, that agreed to keep the peace. the people that come are allowed a lodging of their own and full access to what's available inside the base. which are holograms rooms, two training rooms, a food hall, a lab and a hospital. within each room/lodging, the heroes have their own shower/bath, toilet, a personal computer, double bed, wooden clothing drawers and cupboards, with at least one having a mirror on the inside of a door, and a metal storage cupboard. the total room count is 600. inside the base, the corridors are all painted grey, with white numbers at the start of each corridor, telling the people of which corridor they are in. the height of the corridors themselves is designed to fit seven full grown men, standing on top of each other. The reason such, is to allow robots and other tall beings to roam free around the base. and 100 of the rooms are designed for their height also. It must be quite worrying for someone to try and knock on that sort of door size just to see if the being is in. and of course, if the thing does open the door, one must question if the small person will be in awe, shock, or crapping himself.

The Dr in their title stands for 'Doctor', which in this Universe has a slightly different meaning, normally attached to scientists of many fields, such as Genetics, Energy, Robotics, Artificial and so on, as well as high ranked medical personnel.

Once again, the clash of metal is heard around the corridors. the noise was overheard by the two minds who founded this place, as they were walking down one of the said corridors, Dr Light, with a metal clipboard in his hand, and Dr Wily, holding his Skull cane in one hand, and some paperwork in the other. Dr Wily has in his clothing from the game series of Battle Network, whilst Dr Light was in the classic attire. Both were talking before they heard the sound.

Albert Wily frowned. "Hmph, If I'm to hazard a guess, the training room is being used again. I thought we told them that Tuesdays and Saturdays we wanted them to stay out of those so we can check them over?"

Thomas Light gave a small chuckle, looking at his old friend. "We can't expect them to not use it. It's not like they have anything better to do besides test themselves against each other."

"Yeah well, if anything collapses and they get hurt, whatever they sue for is coming out of your account."

"We could always watch for now, see what's going on. Come now, the inspection can be completed afterwards." With that, Dr Light talked on ahead of his friend, motioning him to follow.

"You treat the place like it's fully functioning Thomas. You do know we have power shortages quite often don't you? And trying to make sure we get an ample water source is a pain. The Galactic Federations money demands just for the water use is stupidly high…" Wily was now following, as they overheard more clashing of steel.

Thomas smiled, continuing to focus ahead, guessing which one of the rooms the noise was coming from. "Yuan Shao is going to sort out the water money for us, remember? And we'll figure out a way to increase the power core to stop the shortages."

"We need to. The Net Navis are at constant risk if we can't keep the net constantly online while they traverse it…"

The doors of one of the training rooms opened, as Dr Light pressed a few buttons on a control panel next to the door.

"I got you now kid!...what the!?"

"You gotta be faster then that Xiahou Dun!"

Within the training room, a crowd of people can be seen around the edges of the room, watching two heroes fight it out. Within the group, famous faces such as Ryu from the Street Fighter tournament, Jak and his little ottersel sidekick, Daxter, from their world of Bara'Dor II, Mario and Luigi, from their world called Mushroom world (before making contact with the mushroom kingdom itself, GF scientists called it Vucor I), and Sonic the hedgehog and Shadow the hedgehog, from earth VI (or, what many call it, Mobius.).

At the front of one side of the crowd, was the Net Navi Roll, from this very world. and standing with her, was Navi Megaman, Navi Shademan,the space bounty hunter Samus Aran.

Megaman. Although is named a Net Navi and has all the functions of one, is actually classed as a Hu-Navi. A part-Navi, Part-Human. The part-human is about only 1 percent of him. It's a very small fragment of his past life when he died as a baby called 'Hub'. His father remade him into a Net Navi, and left that as a mark to his past. He knows he was human once. His been at the base since the day it was finally built. His rather timid, and only seems to act brave when the odds aren't stacked against him. He tries to help out his grandfather, Thomas Light and father, Yuichiro Light, by doing the odd choir around the base, and is normally the first person to greet newcomers. He hangs around with Roll, his girlfriend, and their Net Navi friends from the time before the base, Gutsman and Gylde. His OP, or Operator, a slowly fading out part of Net Navi life, is his human brother, Lan Light.

Roll. She's been at the base since it was made. A Net Navi that seems to be the only person able to make most people in the base be her friend without getting into fights. She watches out for all her close friends, especially for Chad, Richard, Shademan and Anna. She is quick thinking, has hacking and healing abilities, and fast moving. She's going out with Megaman. her OP/Operator is a girl called Maylu Sakurai.

Shademan. He arrived at the base 4 years ago. A Net Navi that also seems to have the powers of a vampire. He has an uncanny ability to bring himself back after being completely destroyed, his programming designed to restore itself with backups in reserve, something that's seen as inhumane to the Navi race since their rise to being on par with any sentient race. His calm, cool and reserved, but seems to land himself into trouble (mainly by accident, unlike Chad) with the people in the base. He mainly enjoys hanging round Roll and Richard, mainly Roll through, since Richard is usually busy.

Net Navis were originally from, as hinted, the net, controlled by operators, and dreamed of being able to see the real world beyond the machine worlds they survived in. They had come a long way from that beginning. They were given a program called "Real", over 10 years ago, that allowed them to enter the real world freely. This was a major breakthrough, but it was the next one AFTER it that really made things wonderful for them. Dr Light, 3 years after the real program was created, invented, for them, the "Life" program, which, to the happiness of Net Navi's, makes them pretty much human. they can eat, drink, change clothes, have sex, and have children. Not all Net Navi's are able to have this program, but most can. Nowadays, all Navi's are seen as a humanoid separate race.

Also with this group was a girl, with short brown hair, emerald green eyes, was wearing a light blue T-shirt, and dark blue jeans and white trainers, and looks of the age of 15. She's seen watching the fight going on, with a worried look. "I think Chad's being a bit overconfident guys...maybe we should stop him before he gets hurt bad…"

Anna Hael is from the planet Mobius. A Human from one of the very few colonies of humans on the planet. She may seem light hearted and cute on the outside to others, but that's when only everything is going her way. When it isn't, she can turn into a moody little madam. Unlike her friend she's worried over, Chad, she easily blended in when she came to the base. she's always the one that tries to make peace with those that Chad pisses off, since she prefers to try and be everyone's friends in the base, rather then their enemies, since her and Chad get enough trouble with those that hate them as it is.

Samus, wearing her full battle Chozo suit, noticed the arrival of the two doctors, who made their way over to where Anna and the others were, pretty much in front of the crowd. "Doctors."

Samus Aran. She's been around the base for 3 years. One of the most famous bounty hunters in the GF, she holds the record of 50 successful bounty catches without falter…well, if all of those people were still alive after she "caught" them. She's trigger happy and loves to drink heavily…two things that have never been great bedfellows. Some people still wonder why the doctors let her in.

Dr Wily nodded at her, before focusing on the battle in the center of the room.

In the middle of the room, Xiahou Dun, wielding his prized Kirin fang scimitar, is seen jumping back, then swinging his blade sideways, clashing with another sword. This other blade was the length of a short sword. The blade itself was silver, while the hilt was black, with a deep red diamond of some kind in the middle of the hilt. And standing there, holding the weapon, called the blade of darkness, was a boy of about 15 years of age. With short brown spiky hair, dark blue eyes, a red T-shirt, a black sleeveless jacket, blue trousers, and white trainers. on his back, is a grey leather holder, designed to carry his sword.

"Ah, I see it's Chad again. What did he do this time?" Wily asked the group.

"Nothing this time Wily. It's just he wanted a match with Xiahou Dun, and it was due for tomorrow, but, well, neither could wait so…here they are." Roll answered.

"I'm surprised so many people are in here." Dr Light noticed.

"Well, Xiahou Dun is quite the warrior. Right hand man of Cao Cao. For the storm maker Chad to take him on is a big enough event to make people come and watch instead of either sitting in the food hall or checking things on the net." Samus pointed out, before quickly looking over to the fight "WATCH HIM CHAD FOR BLIND LO'S SAKE!

Chad Malyan. From the planet of Mobius. A hero, A warrior. A kid, always acts overconfident, and is the most known source of annoyance to others. His only came to the base 2 years ago, although he had contact with it for over a year before moving in. he rarely hangs around due to his enemies causing him hassle. He was first told about the base by his girlfriend-ish ally, Anna, who has made contact with Dr light during one of Chad's adventures against his sworn enemy, a mobian named Chaos. He wasn't sure about moving in at first, but due to Anna demanding him to go with her, Chad gave in and joined her. He had a little trouble with blending in at first, but after making friends with the noble of Earth V, Yuan Shao, the Net Navi Roll, and Richard Wily, he quickly was able to. A lot of the people have started to take a liking to him…so long as he doesn't annoy them, which he seems to keep on doing, hence the name 'storm maker' from Samus, as his causing quite a stir nowadays.

Anna still couldn't help with her concerns over her close friend…well, they were more on the in-between level of friends and lovers, both liked one another, but neither wanted to ask the other out in concern that the other might not like them. "Maybe we should stop it now if his losing his focus."

"Don't panic Anna. we always stop the fights when it gets too ugly." Samus reminded her.

Standing on the other side of the training room, were all of the officers of the Wei kingdom of Earth V, the most notable being Cao Cao, one of the twelve kings of earth V.

"Brother Dun! Stop being cautious! Take the kid out!" Xiahou Yuan, the actual younger cousin to Xiahou Dun, but preferred to call him brother yelled out next to Cao Cao.

Cao Cao had his arms folded over his chest, watching the fight whilst standing there. "The boy has talent, and speed on his side. Xiahou Dun has every right to be cautious. Ever since the boy came here, people have met their match in him…26 have lost, including Zhang Liao, and not many people have toppled him to the ground before."

Xiahou Dun then tries to swing the blade downwards at the boy, but he quickly blocks the attack, then uses a teleport ability he knows called chaos control, to suddenly appear behind Xiahou Dun, and goes to kick him in the back, but Xiahou Dun quickly roll's forward, remembering the trick that the boy has done to him five times before, then turns round, readying his scimitar, looking slightly tense, and panting a little.

"Your fast Chad, But your not strong. If you lacked that teleportation skill, I would've taken you down with my eye closed by now." Xiahou Dun said.

"You know, I was expecting you to do that by now, But I'm still standing." Chad replied with a smirk, lowering his Blade of Darkness down to the ground, leaving himself wide open.

Xiahou Dun was not one to waste a chance, and runs at him. Chad raises his spare hand, and was ready to unleash an energy beam called chaos beam. Xiahou Dun didn't take notice, and raised his weapon when he got close...and suddenly felt pain on his chest, as he goes flying back and crashing into the ground by a sudden red beam that shot out of Chad's hand. he groans in pain, as he starts to get up from the sudden blow, and looks at Chad, who's smiling, and blowing on one of his fingers, as if blowing smoke away from the barrel of a gun. "Sorry one eye, but I wanted to give you a little bit of time before using that."

Xiahou Dun stood up for a moment, then grumbles "Thats enough kid…I fold. You win this round." he then walks out of the training room, past Link, Zhao Yun and Zelda, holding his chest as he went, obviously, the blow was a shock to the system, and winded him, he needed to go and rest. Chad watched Xiahou Dun leave, then noticed the crowd speak amongst themselves, before most of them started to make their way out.

As Chad turned to look at Anna, he caught a glimpse of dark blue, and quickly turned his head, noticing Cao Cao standing there besides him, looking down at him. "…Two of my finest generals have been outmatched by you. For someone your age, that's impressive."

"Uhh…thanks?"

"I have someone else in mind, if your interested. His been itching to take you on, but I told him my warrior had to go first…now Xiahou Dun has been beaten, you have no one else to fight, am I right?"

Chad chuckled lightly, and gave Cao Cao a smirk. "Hey, whoever it is, send'em down. I can take them."

"…That I wouldn't be so sure on this time, Chad." With that, Cao Cao departed, as Anna, Samus, Megaman, Shademan and Roll came over.

Anna quickly looked Chad over. "No injuries…good good…and he didn't even cut your clothes."

"What's with the check up Anna? I'm fine. The guy didn't even touch me, I knew what I was doing…sorta."

"Well I'm glad he didn't! I would've kicked him in the groin if he dared seriously hurt you!" Anna responded.

Roll gave Chad a warm smile. "Well, I suppose we need to mark that as your 27th win in a row then. You're really doing good here."

"Heh, I can only keep getting higher and higher with this. Well, shall we go and get a quick bite to eat guys? Kinda missed lunch to get to this…" Chad started to make his way over to the door, with the others following, except for Anna, who looked over to where Cao Cao and the Wei officers were, and was sure she saw a strange old man for a moment, holding five cards, and after she blinked, he was gone.

Anna then quickly went after Chad, and soon, the training room was empty, the voices gone, bar Dr Wily and Light, who both stood there, with Light looking at his clipboard. "…I take it you saw him too?"

Dr Wily nodded. "Our old friend is around." He gave a sigh. "Meaning something's gonna happen…and I know that boy is in the middle of it."

"Come on, let's get back to work, before Keira thinks we're being lazy and starts moaning about her being the only one who cares about this place." Thomas walked off, and after Wily looked around the training room a little bit more, followed suit.

* * *

Note time:

1. Dynasty Warrior group are in their DW8's costumes.

2. Net Navis are from Megaman Battle Network, one of the Megaman series I enjoyed a lot of during the creation of this, and still do enjoy to this day.

3. I don't mind if people review or not. so do so at your own choice.


	2. A Dark Soul

Dr Light and Dr Wily were both now in the labs of the Hero Base, the time was around 6pm, after they both had done their check round on the base.

With them was their Children and Grand-Children, as well as their mechanic. They were Yuichiro Light, Lan Light, Megaman/Hub, Regal Wily, Richard Wily, and Keira Hagai.

The lab is a major spot in the base. It contains the mainframe, which stores all the profiles and data on all of the people within the base. It has a massive computer, a metal table, and all kinds of devices around that the docs need. It also has three small rooms connected to it. One is filled with pulse-in chairs. These allow you to enter the net via transmitting your brain waves. One is a storage room, and one is where the main energy core is. The main energy core is pretty much a self creating energy unit, designed to sustain all the devices in-use around the base, although it struggles as constant adjustments are required. It's really to avoid paying for GF energy sources, which is a tad expensive.

Dr Yuichiro Light is the son of Dr Thomas Light and one of the more alert ones around the base. His normally the first to report any troubles before his dad or the Wily family. He's always busy writing out reports on the base, and keeping an eye on his wife and his sons. His wife especially since Regal, the son of Albert Wily, has been making advances on his wife, and she doesn't either notice them, or simply takes them as compliments, either way, Yuichiro is often watching what Regal does.

Dr Regal Wily is the adopted son of Albert Wily, Throughout Albert's career, he never bothered to think about children of his own, and just adopted those that looked promising heirs. There was another heir, but he disconnected himself from the Wily family years ago. Regal uses his first name in his occupant name, as does Yuichiro. So instead of Dr Wily, it's Dr Regal, and for Thomas' son, it's Dr Yuichiro, in order to avoid confusion with their fathers. His quite calm and collected, and often seen relaxing in the bar, having a drink. His been noted for his choice of music, pop, and is very known throughout the base for being one of the major reasons why there's often a fallout between the Wily's and Light's, his seemingly unbroken focus on Hakura Light, the wife of Yuichiro. Hakura doesn't mind it too much, since Regal does treat her a lot, but of course, Dr Yuichiro and his son DO mind. It's rare for them both to be in the same room and not bring up the topic.

Richard Wily. His young, ambitious, loves planning and fighting, and has a "lone wolf" attitude 90 percent of the time when his with others. He is the one that mainly keeps order around the base at spots where his Grandfather and Dr Light miss. He has no real powers of his own, and mainly relies on sword fighting and the Net Navi weaponry system of battle chips to gain the upper hand…as well as the illegal ones known as dark chips as well, if need be, which greatly harm Net Navis when used for their power, and more crippling on other humanoid races, but unlike them, his not affected at all by the bad effects of the dark chips, which is a major plus for him, but confusing for everyone else. Dr Wily often shrugs it off.

He had a long sword, which had a dark purple aura around it, and had a imbedded picture of a wolf's head near the hilt, with the picture on both sides of the blade, and the hilt being black as the night. He was around the age of 17, with a black jacket, black trousers, black trainers, and a blue shirt, with short brown hair, with a slightly long fringe, and with brown eyes, and slightly pale skin.

Keira Hagai was from the same world as Jak and Daxter, Bara'Dor II. Her and her Father, Samos, came to the base only four months ago, when Jak suggested her to Dr Light and Wily when they needed a computer expert and a mechanic. She's been working hard since her arrival, as she's repaired at least every computer in this base once, repaired Megaman when he suffered a malfunction in his leg movement and got the energy core back online five times, each time it had suddenly shut down for no known reason, which she is damn sure is an issue in the way it's been programmed, but the docs would rather save face then admit they may have got it wrong. A lot of people assumed that she and Jak were an item, before and after she arrived, but Jak explained that he had a girl back home called Ashelin once the docs talked about it in front of Keira.

Dr Light had activated the large monitor to show a letter from one of their fellow scientists, a man known as Dr Nozawa Hojo who resides on Gaia VII normally, the current capital planet of the Galactic Federation, but was right now on a space station known as FG995.

'_To my associates Thomas Light and Albert Wily._

_For several months I have been testing the Dark Soul subject, named 'Dark Megaman'._

Reading that name just gave Megaman the cold chills.

The dark soul. A entity made by the use of dark chips, addictive battle chips that provide beings with extreme augmentation in strength, but at the cost of their personality and emotions. As the use of dark chips increases by the user, they begin to act irrational and edgy towards non-users, grow a hatred towards life, and will do anything to gain more of the dark chips. The dark soul is made just after a first time use within the being, often making them feel like there is something watching them, making the person paranoid, and the dark soul obviously in question, once belonged to Megaman.

Dr Light got Megaman to volunteer for making a dark soul and extracting it. The reason for this is due to the docs focus on the Navi systems. The Dark Chips were a wildly successful experimental battle chips created by Regal, but their effects weren't known nor tested on prior to being unleashed in the networks of the Galactic Federation, a grave mistake on Regal's part. This was three years ago, and now the scientists are trying to find out what causes the sudden increase of power, why it corrupts, and how to stop it from doing so to contain any more possible issues related to them. The process was harsh and painful for Megaman, but, in Dr Light's and Dr Wily's view, it was worth it.

'_The subject, when awoken from the cryo freezing you sent him to us as, was highly agitated and destructive in his liquid state, attempting to latch onto nearby troopers and fellow scientists to try and control, which is as expected, as Dark Souls are not known to be extracted out of the host they infect. We contained him and begun planning for tests._

_Within two days of isolation, When I visited it, within it's containment, it had taken the form of Hub Light, also known as Megaman, the Net Navi. A perfect copy, the colours of his suit, everything. I spoke with it, and it managed to answer and understand clearly. _

_When asked for a name, it claimed it was called Hub._

_When asked what it was, it told me it was a Net Navi._

_When I asked what was its purpose, it simply began laughing, then mumbling to itself, before looking at me once more, and laughing loudly. I noticed then that the blue coloured suit of Megaman was replaced with a dark purple, the Navi crest had gone from red to blue, the skin had paled, his hair had turned a dark blue, and his pupils had gone from a green colour to red._

_He banged on the glass panel between myself and him, and demanded to be set free. Weeks on end this was always the result when I asked that question. No doubt the normal colours of 'Hub Light' are its way to disguise itself, and when pressed, it can reveal its darker nature._

_It took a long time you two, but now his far more calm, and has allowed himself to be experimented on, although, we have had…bouts of anger, where he has killed the odd trooper, but that only meant another body to dissect and see what type of energy a Dark Soul uses._

_We've learnt little from the bodies, unfortunately, as the energy appears to be a mimic of the same energy fired by Net Navis in combat, except enhanced somehow, the energy particles seemed to more volatile. _

_The subject itself. When cut, his muscle system appears to react more sharply to pain, and his adrenaline programming kicks in much faster then a normal Navi. When given battle chips, they appear to be enhanced by his programming, corrupted even, transformed into their darker counterparts. A normal sword chip can suddenly have the same power and strength as a dark chip when in his hands._

_Lastly, when spoken to again lately about his purpose, he finally gave me an answer. He said "I have but my own designs. One is about my light self."_

_I assume this 'Light Self' is the original host, as no doubt the Dark Soul knows what it is called, and deems the host as 'light' to its 'dark'. So, I have concluded that in order to look deeper into this entity, we need to see his reaction around his host. I will send the Dark Soul with a large number of guards back to the Hero Base within a week, at the least._

_With regards._

_Dr N. Hojo.'_

"Wait, his gonna send it back? I think we need to tell him we'll send Hub to them." Keira looked to Thomas and Albert after reading the message.

"Why? This place is fine for a subject like him." Thomas answered.

"We're having enough trouble with the systems in this place, as well as the power core." She argued.

"Let's not forget the last time we allowed something that's possibly highly dangerous in here. The experimental security program that went maverick?" Yuichiro pointed out.

"And that time the Robot masters went crazy and you both brought them here to be fixed? The mess afterwards cost us a fair amount." Regal added.

"And the poison gas that nearly got into all the ventilation system. That nearly killed several people, including Lan here." Megaman finished with.

Lan seemed busy looking at the device Megaman once lived in, known as a PET, fiddling with it, probably hasn't even looked at the message Hojo sent. He looked up when he heard his name. "Huh?"

Dr Light expected a more, welcoming approach to the idea of having a Dark Soul around. "I can't deny we've had bad luck when it comes to things like this, but we can't let the previous mistakes deter us…" He turned away, to the large computer, focusing on it. "…Anyway I already replied and told him we'll be more then happy to receive it."

Regal sighed in utter annoyance. "Father, Thomas, can you PLEASE inform us of things BEFORE you take action? I thought this was a complete family joint operation."

"Joint operation, Regal, doesn't include hitting on my wife." Yuichiro turned to him.

"Oh don't start this up now Yuichiro."

Richard Wily was sitting a fair distance back from all of them, and dulled out the chit chat between Yuichiro and Regal. Right now in his mind, he was thinking about Chad. These "friends" have been rather more like rivals to each other in recent months. This is due to a practice duel between them, before Chad began his winning streak, in one of the training rooms that came to a draw. It lasted nearly 5 hours, with neither gaining the upper hand. Chad has speed and favours being on the offensive, while Richard has wile and favours being on the defensive, waiting for the right time. The match was halted when both were too tired to continue. Richard has been, since then, trying to attack Chad and defeat him…even through it seems his far more bent on killing him to everyone else's point of view, with the way his been trying to catch Chad out, to find a weakness.

"I think it's time to call this meeting to a close guys. I got systems to double check, and things to install, and I don't need both of the mad families hanging around over me expressing who claims what woman." Richard heard that voice, the voice of Keira, who had stood between Yuichiro and Regal to stop them arguing.

Dr Wily agreed. "Well, I have personal things to take care of anyway. Before the soul gets here."

* * *

As Megaman, the first one of the leave the labs, enters the Main room, sitting around there, around a table, chatting, was Chad, Anna, Samus, now just in her zero suit, Roll and Shademan.

The main room, is one of the largest rooms of the base. Yes it's called that. Central Hub was suggested by Megaman at one point, but the docs dismissed that. Filled with chairs, tables, and computers around the edge of it, the ceiling is the glass dome that could be seen outside, letting in the sunlight. They can open a few glass panels of the dome to let fresh air in, but it's a pain in the ass since Dr Light and Dr Wily forgot to create some sort of device to allow them to open them from the ground. And, for now, have to get someone to get a ladder, climb up, and open them by hand….a job that has caused a lot of accidents, and put people off it. The room is a grey colour like the rest of the base, and it has two corridors and two vital rooms connected to it. These are the labs and hospital.

The hospital is, of course, the hospital. Designed for those little accidents and operations needed. It has only one computer in the room. The rest of it is filled with beds, and shelves containing common medicines. It has two extra rooms connected to it. One is an operating room, the other is an extra storage room.

"64 then? Come on Samus, I have to be close by now." Chad asked.

"It's 35. The holder is Lu Bu." Samus replied.

"Oh…is that all? I thought it would have been a hundred and something, I can easily catch up with that."

"Only at least nine more risks on your life to surpass that then." Anna said with a slight frown, obviously she didn't approve of his constant fights in the training room.

"Well at least it'll pass the time and keep me in shape…" Chad sat back, relaxing in the chair.

Megaman walked over, and joined them, sitting close to Roll. "Hey guys. Got some news from the docs, nothing that you're gonna agree with mind."

"What is it now?" Roll knows that if it's something that they won't agree with, it's gonna be problematic and a risk.

"It's about their Dark Soul business. I told you before about the extraction of it from me, well, seems like they had news on it from mad case Hojo."

"And?" said Shademan.

"It's interesting a little. It's copied my looks, it's mad, evil, can talk and walk…and Grandfather and Albert want it back here sometime within a week."

Samus seemed to be the first to answer to this. "What can we expect? Risk of a break out? Infective? Destructive?"

"All that possibly."

"Really, they want to bring another dangerous thing here?" Chad was about to point out the incidents of the past, but Megaman stopped him.

"We already did the reminding, but they already made their mind up before they even told us what's going on…so now I got a possibly deranged and insane version of me coming to visit."

That's when the lab doors opened, and Dr Light, Yuichiro, Lan and Regal departed, heading down the corridors. Coming out last, was Richard and Dr Wily, in a discussion of their own. "It's about the dark soul right? let me guess, you want me to make sure it gets sent right to the labs on the moment of arrival.." Richard seemed like he was still thinking elsewhere, looking at his blade, having now got it out to look at.

The blade was named Dark Wolf, inside it, is believed to be an entity that can devour souls, and is believed to have come from the Far Side, the unknown part of the universe, where many vessels of the Galactic Federation and empires before it have ventured, but rarely returned in one piece. Regal bought it from a trader that survived the journey, or claimed to have, and had it hang on a wall back in the Wily Fortress elsewhere on this planet. It was only given to Richard a year ago, when he grabbed it off the wall, and it reacted to him touching it, the purple aura that always appears when he holds it.

Dr Wily was glad his grandson gets right to the point of things and knows what's important, not all the time, but most of it, which is good enough for him. "Well, someone needs to make sure, and your-"

"Get someone else to do it gramps." Richard was still looking at his blade carefully. "It's going to arrive in a week, not in the next few hours. Get dad to take care of it."

Dr Wily wasn't too pleased with this response. "Richard, you haven't got anything else planned, and your pretty much safe from Dark Souls. your the only one capable of stopping it if it decided to break out…and could you PLEASE focus on what I'm saying right now? The sword isn't going to just fly away."

With that, Richard looked to the old man, and did as he was told, putting the sword back in it's leather casing, on his back. "Doubting the GF's ability to contain it gramps?" he replied.

Dr Wily couldn't deny the doubt he had. The GF weren't the sort that could handle dangerous matters well, and several times they've let him down. "It's very important that you watch over it. Hojo might be sending a guard unit to watch it, but I'm betting my monocle it'll have found a way to kill them before it even lands here."

"Fine. Just call me when it gets here, if you're so worried." With that agreement, Dr Wily departed, leaving Richard to walk over to the others, after noticing Roll motioning him to come over. As he did, he and Chad looked each other in the eyes, with Richard giving him a mean glare, which Chad looked a little surprised and raised an eyebrow at.

The attention of the grandson of Wily went elsewhere when he finally sat down. "Roll. What is it you want?"

"Oh, I just wanted you to spend a little time with us. You can't stay locked up in your room you know. I was wondering if we should all go to one of the Hologram rooms and have an adventure somewhere? Not worry about this Dark Soul business."

Shademan folded his arms. "I'll agree to it so long as it's a more peaceful one then the previous, with your idea of including a random encounter with net viruses."

"Hey, that was fun!"

Anna shook her head. "Not for me it wasn't."

Chad agreed. "Nor me, do you know how it feels to have your sword vibrate through your arms after hitting one of those mettaurs right on the helmet? Not pleasant."

* * *

On the planet Gaia VII, within the metropolis city of Midgar, in the Shinra tower, looking from the 70th floor window, across the dark clouds that reign the sky above, bringing down rain, is a man with white short hair, with one green eye, and one brown, with a tanned skin, wearing black shows, and wearing a black uniform with white gloves, with countless medals on one side of it. It was Grand Commander Keaton Al'Keriff, looking miserable…

Keaton Al'Keriff. 33 years of servitude in the army. since he was 20, had led him up to this rank. Alot of people believe he doesn't deserve such a rank, as it means he pretty much controls ALL of the GF's military movements and actions across the universe. He was annoyed though, and rather angered, after Houston's death, since he was already this rank in the first place. but the council of High Ministers, people who control the funds, profits, losses and loans of the GF worlds, space stations, and even the military funding, suggested that they should wait untill they find a suitable leader.

They weren't stupid. Keaton had ideas, ideas of his own, to gain total control, to have people bowing to him...he had no intention of forever staying as a puppet on strings, which he pretty much was, because without the high ministers, there wouldn't be any cash to fund his war campaigns against the peace loving United Federation of Planets, and the power controlling Galactic Empire.

Right now, he kept command of the armies, and was a figure face to the people of the GF, who believe, thanks to the High Ministers, that Keaton is really the emperor of it. This was done to make sure the people didn't feel lost, that they had a leader to protect them, that's what the high ministers want them to believe for now.

Just arriving on the floor, and walking over to Keaton's desk, which was just behind the man himself, was Rufus Shinra, the once-head of the very building they were standing in, that once belonged to the famous "Shinra Electric Power Company". His father had only died 2 years ago, of supposed murder, which was quickly covered up by the GF. The reason of this was, as Rufus knew, due to the fact the murderer was none other then Keaton. When the president of the large company refused to turn his building over along with Midgar, to the Galactic Federation as it's new capital and main production area, One bullet shot in the head from Keaton's hand pistol changed his mind, rather fatally, to be exact.

Rufus was then rightfully placed in charge, and chose to willingly accept the agreement and allowed now-his company to be dissolved and absorbed into the Federation. He was granted the position of Grand Cross, a step lower then Grand Commander, a decision that was put in place by the High Ministers after finding out he had worked for the GF before, and for his 'noble sacrifice' of all that he had for the Federation. A decision Keaton never agreed with, but was forced to in order to keep the High Ministers content.

With Rufus, was Dr Ivo Robotnik, and Master Chief. Both were members of the GF forces, that were placed to keep an eye on Rufus and his actions, by Keaton. He couldn't help but feel that the young man was waiting for something. There was a knife aiming at his back, and he swore that when he removed those Ministers from power, he'll either kill the lad, or place him in a non-military position to keep him out of sight.

Rufus quietly coughs, then looks over to Keaton. "Grand Commander Keaton. We've come as asked."

Keaton turns away from the window, after a moment, and walks over towards the desk, looking at Rufus carefully, then at Dr Robotnik and Master Chief, the latter two saluting Keaton. "...Right...I'll get straight to the point. Lately I've been hearing of 'accidents' from the nearby station of FG995. Concerning a..." He looks down onto his desk, and finds a report paper. He picks it up and looks at it. "...'being made of dark matter and power', which came from a 'dark chip', and was originally thought up by those two self declaring scientists, Dr Light and Dr Wily. The go ahead of allowing this idea expand on that station was made by Dr Hojo. So far, there has been 46 lives lost during a span of 6 months through these 'accidents'."

He stops for a moment, then looks at the three before him. "Now, since Hojo was placed under you Rufus for the last year, I'm guessing you know more about this then most around here."

Rufus shakes his head "It's new to me Grand commander. I had believed he was silent during these months."

Keaton then focused on Dr Robotnik "What about you?".

Dr Robotnik seemed to think for a moment, then reply "It's a known project to me sir. I've been there recently to see Hojo. The being is called a Dark Soul, it's quite violent and aggressive towards nearly everyone there."

"Does it have any benefits to us? Other then wasting lives?".

Dr Robotnik shook his head. "No sir. Not that I know of."

"Then, pray tell me, why it's been allowed to go on for this long? with only myself knowing of it three days ago?"

Dr Robotnik just stayed silent.

Then, Master Chief spoke up. "There must of been a lack of information, or the high ministers felt that you didn't need to know."

Keaton thought over this carefully, turning away from them, looking back outside the window. "...If I recall, doesn't one of the high ministers reside in Dr Light and Dr Wily's heroic base thing? The place where morons who refuse to follow us, the Villain Ministry or the Hero Ministry live…"

Master Chief nodded "High Minister Yuan Shao resides there."

Keaton frowned on hearing that name. The silver haired noblemen of Earth V has always been a blockade between him and hanging the two doctors with a rope…

"It's a good possible chance, sir, that with a slight talk, Yuan Shao may have told the other high ministers to keep it all quiet. You know, put in a good word for Wily and Light to keep their experiment safe from the military." said Dr Robotnik.

Rufus added in on this. "Just goes to show, Grand commander, how much the Ministers trust you, hm?" He was slightly smirking towards Keaton, who thankfully still had his back to Rufus and the others.

Keaton was glaring while looking outside. That brat was annoying, but he can't be rid of him, yet. He knows patience will earn him something in the end. He turned towards them, and cleared his throat. "Rufus, I want you to go to space station FG995, and terminate the project. Take as many men as you need. To be honest, I don't need this sort of trouble going on while we have two wars to focus on at the outer sectors and borders."

Rufus nodded. Keaton then looked at Master Chief. "Assist Rufus in anyway you can chief, with you and Cortana assisting, I'm sure the being won't be too much of a hassle." Then Keaton looked at Dr Robotnik. "You can make useful to me by asking for updates from both frontlines." Master Chief and Dr Robotnik saluted, and all three left, leaving Keaton by himself again.

He was now thinking about the hero base. They were, to him, just rebels, refusing to be under his command, But he couldn't make any moves on them, as long as they have Yuan Shao by their side…Not just him, but three major kings of Earth V as well, a world filled with able fighters, a military world, putting the Hero Base in a power position in the affairs of the Galactic Federation.

He heard thunder, echoing outside across the sky. He gave a small smile.

In the end, they were a small annoyance, one he'll eventually root out and destroy.

* * *

"Tick...tick...tick...tick..."

Space station FG995. Guarding it, were two GF warships, always prepared...it was all quiet, and nearby the space station, was an electronic storm, in the shape of a purple cloud, glistening with bolts of lightning.

The warships were copies of the blueprints from the UNSC, a human force that had once been active over 154 years ago, they had been the first to agree about merging into SCI with other forces, such as the EA, or "Earth Alliance" (of earth III), which created the famous space station, the very one Murriden Beakstead had held many meetings upon, Babylon 5. Smaller versions of that space station have been created after it's image, and it's small attack ships was emulated into the SCI force as well. The UNSC transport ships were also put into the SCI force…since then, all the way up to the GF time, they haven't changed much…apart from the massive laser cannons that have been installed underneath the warships, and shield technology on all space crafts...war was common, and they need to be ready, as Keaton once said.

Shame Keaton thinks a big laser gun and a defensive energy device is more then enough to make them ready.

"Tick...tick...tick...tick..."

Inside the space station, patrolling around the place, were GF troopers, wearing their armoured gear, which was just a silver metal bodysuit, complete with a silver helmet and a massive blue visor, that pretty much shows the face of the person inside. With them all, were the standard GF Rifle. It could fire 120 energy bullets in 60 seconds...shame that they don't do much damage overall, and the further the target, the worse the aim. Even the Galactic Empire's storm troopers take a few blows before it breaks through their armour and kills them.

"Tick...tick...tick...tick..."

Deep within the station itself, inside an empty storage room, waiting in the dark, was the fabled and feared one winged angel...Sephiroth, in his original attire, but with the famous black wing from advent children on him as well...

Sephiroth. The very legend, one of the most feared men in the entire SCI and GF...and beyond, for that matter. Even Klingons, Romulans, Borg, the United Federation of Planets, and the Galactic Empire, have heard his name. He is believed to be the "son" of Hojo, when it fact, this was a false memory, that was implanted into Hojo…in reality, Sephiroth easily out beats Hojo with age...Sephiroth is as old as this cycle, and he does things with a purpose by the orders of one being…a god, which is he to serve at all times if needed. Sephiroth, compared to what all believe, is in fact, a deity.

Deities. Beings that were either once a normal creature, that broke it's boundaries, and was accepted by the gods as unique, and made into one. Or it was created at the start of all things, to assist the gods, like Sephiroth. Their powers are almost god-like, and they are immortal, only by age though. They can die by wounds and powerful magic, if it is somehow pulled off, but will most likely be revived by their gods…if it is possible, as such, if the soul of the deity survives the killing. They normally have some kind of ally, a 'summon', to assist them. They are the servants of the heaven, bound by rules, and duties, that make and break destines for the other life forms that exist in the universe.

Sephiroth has a summon of his own. It is Phantom, who, like Griffon, was once believed to be a demon, and had fought with a man named Dante before. The creature made of magma had just appeared from a light blue circle shaped vortex, wide enough for him, in front of Sephiroth. The vortex quickly closed behind him.

Summons are pretty much the next in line to deities. with the same possible beginnings. Phantom was a grand king of a fearsome spider race, that was destroyed by the hero Primus. But his soul was found and collected by Sephiroth, and he was reformed, with extra parts added onto him, such as the scorpion tail, and the extra armoured front claws, into the lava being of today, forever working as Sephiroth's partner in the duties.

Phantom made himself bow slightly to Sephiroth, as is the custom of a summon to it's deity master. The one winged deity looked at the beast. "Are the heartless all ready Phantom? Lo doesn't need this to fail...Dark Megaman has to escape, and clash with the boy called Chad Malyan."

Phantom raised himself back up. "All prepared Sephiroth. This is going to be a lovely bloodbath, one that I would like to join in on."

Sephiroth shook his head. "Our duty is to make sure Dark Megaman leaves the station. that is all...perhaps, Phantom, if all goes well, Lo will praise you and grant you a few duties that include slaughter."

Phantom laughed a little, the idea made him slightly shudder in delight. Killing was his forte, and causing a major slaughter without reason was his favourite pass time. He cannot stand when a day goes by where he doesn't kill. His entire previous life was on killing for his young…now it was just for pleasure.

Sephiroth then smiled at Phantom. "lets get it started…Dark Megaman is alone now his small prison in the labs…this is the time." Both he and Phantom vanished suddenly.

* * *

Within a round room, with only one big door leading in and out, filled with computers, chairs, a minigun auto turret in the middle of the ceiling, and a complete blue glassed chamber, with wires from it connecting to the computers. In the chamber, was Megaman, or would be mistaken for him. The deception was now lost to the Dark Soul, and it simply stayed in it's true colours, the more purple outfit to Megaman, the blue crest and such. He sat there, patient as always when left alone, each second that passed, he would make say 'tick' to no one but himself, with no reason as far as Hojo could make out. A coping mechanism of it, perhaps.

"Tick…tick….tick…tick.." mumbled Dark Megaman, or, as he preferred, Darkmega.

Hojo had just left him alone after doing another check up, and now, he was bored…he wanted more fun, but Hojo and his lackeys, those GF troopers, wouldn't let him. All he did was grab the face of a lab assistant just now and showed how wide the mouth can go before the muscles and skin rip. The lab assistant's blood gushed over him when they found out. Hojo already washed that away off him, the annoying fool…he must admit though, Hojo looked like he was entertained with the way Darkmega killed that poor sod.

But now, he was bored, and alone…time would just tick away. Hojo wouldn't be back for a few more hours, after he said about a transfer. I transfer home, frozen again, like when he first came out here, more experiments…he glared darkly, because he knew his light self would be there, watching…

Darkmega then looked over to the computers, and noticed that way were acting odd. One at a time, they were switching off, then, he noticed the auto turret shutting down as well…the lights died off.

He sat alone now, in the dark. He could just see his own hands, and the glass around him. He remembered overhearing Hojo once, about the glass having shielding, to stop his dark buster energy shots from breaking it.

His right hand transformed into a cannon like weapon, known as the buster, to Navis. The basic weapon for their kind, and all of them have it, and right now, Darkmega felt like testing it out…

In one of hangers, a group of fifteen troopers were keeping watch, when the power died suddenly, leaving them with only the glow from their blue visors. One of the GF troopers turned to another. "Hang on, I thought the electro storm nearby was suppose to pass by us?".

The one he spoke to shook his head "Nah James, it isn't the storm, the emergency lights would've kicked in…maybe the power core died out."

One of the others spoke up "Uhhh…guys? Is it me, or are there, yellow eyes looking at us? Behind you, Don…"

They all turned to look.

Nearby, in the darkness, they could see two yellow pupil-less eyes looking at them…then four….then eight…then twenty…

One of the troopers increased the brightness of his visor, so it became a blue flashlight… In front of them all, blocking the doorway to the rest of the station, with more appearing from the floor around them, are Heartless, beings that were frequently seen in one of the allied forces of the GF's territory. A lethal species that's classed to be shot on sight. These were the small ones, the weakest...if they aren't in sheer number, which they are now, with about forty to possibly fifty of them looking at the troopers.

The one called James whispered "Orders, Don?".

Don aimed his rifle, slowly, at the Heartless, as they begun to inch closer, seemingly staring at the troopers with curiosity. "Lee, I want you to alert all men on the station. Everyone else…"

One of the Heartless suddenly dashed forward, and found itself being struck by a few rounds before dissolving away into nothing, by Don. "…Shoot the fuckers."

Across the station, through the helmets of all the GF troopers, the warning of a Heartless invasion during this blackout was given. Before each squad knew it, they were either attacked, or heard the screams of their comrades through their communication devices.

The warships a small distance away were non the wiser of the attack, the electromagnetic storm had finally reached them, causing their commanders to shut down all main power and switch to emergency untill the storm passes, as it can severely cripple the vessels if the bolts of energy get attracted to the energy output of the cores.

When any attack by the Heartless occurs, it's normally small, small as in within the hundreds, and very disorganized, easily to weed them out and destroy them. What the GF troopers on the station soon noticed with the reports over the communicators, was that every possible squad location was being hit, as if someone told them exactly where everyone would be at this time precise time, and the number count of the Heartless was reaching in the thousands. Within one hour of the ambush, things had gone completely out of the GF's favour.

Those in the hanger have been able to survive, waiting for support. After taking down that first wave, they quickly moved metal cases containing ship repair tools, to use as cover, between them and the door leading to the station. They've killed hundreds of the heartless, but more came…it was easy to repel them, but the GF rifles did have limited power, and every trooper only had so many extra power cells to carry around.

Don had just taken down another three heartless with his rifle, when he got a call on his com-link, a common device used in the GF, to keep in contact of those that didn't wear the power armor. Their version of a mobile phone, just with letters, as well as numbers. He quickly got his com-link out, in the shape of the old fashioned star trek communicators, and waited for someone to talk, as all he heard was guns being fired…then, he heard a voice "Captain Don. I hope you and your squad that you assigned to the hanger are holding out."

It was Dr Hojo. "Doctor! Where are you? What's the situation over at the labs?"

"The labs are overrun. Unfortunately, all the civilian personnel besides myself didn't make it. I suggest you call for an evacuation of the station. It's lost. I'm currently heading to the hangers with a platoon of your men guarding me."

Don quickly fired a few rounds to take out a heartless that was about to leap over one of the metal cases. "Understood. I'll begin the evac protocol!"

"Are any of the transport ships intact still in your hanger?"

"All of them are A-ok! Meet us here and we'll get you off this station ASAP!"

"Understood. Hojo out."

Don told his boys, and this made them continue their fight, knowing friends were coming. They kept the bastard heartless at bay, firing sparingly at them, trying to save bullets. they knew they were all beginning to run low. Then, the door to the hanger bay opened, and a hail of bullets came through, tearing through the once believed to be blockade of Heartless.

This was, for a brief time, a sign of hope, as Don and the others got out of their cover position, relieved to see it was the twenty troopers, and Hojo, as he slowly walk in, leaning over a little as always, wearing his lab coat loosely, seemingly relaxed about the situation, as the rest of those with him entered, and closed the door behind them.

Don and his boys started to move towards Hojo and the others, lowering their weapons. "Dr Hojo! Did you see anyone else? I quickly opened a channel to all survivors to head to the hangers and-"

The GF troopers that stood with Dr Hojo suddenly raised their weapons at the Don and his comrades. Hojo looked Don right in the eyes, and silently adjusted his glasses. "No one else will be coming. Men, dispose of the captain."

The fifteen troopers, who held out for so long, fell to their own weaponry. Don only had time to curse Hojo before bullets riddled his armor, ripping through it and into his body…which now laid with the bodies of his allies, their life gone from their shells.

Dr Hojo calmly walked over to the corpse, and gave his signature chuckle, which he was known for to almost every scientist in the Federation, often freaking them out. "Heheh, disappointing really. You would've made a good subject to test with. But I have an agreement arranged with someone far more important then you."

He waited, as the troopers went by, and over to the transport ships, unlocking one that they and Hojo were going to leave on, and a second one. Dr Hojo made his way over to the transport they were going to leave on, and as he was about to step on, he noticed the troopers had quickly turned and looked behind him.

He knew who it was. "…I'm glad you chose to spare your father. It would've been a great loss if a wonderful genius such as myself were to perish." He turned, and there was Sephiroth, standing at the door of the hanger.

"The gods require you to still live, Nozawa Hojo. I'm sure these men will keep silent about this, won't they?"

Hojo smiled. "Of course. They should be thankful. They'll be the only survivors of this massacre that belonged to the unfortunate captain…I take it this is all because of the Dark Soul?"

Sephiroth did not answer.

Dr Hojo waited for a several seconds, before looking annoyed and turning away. "As always, you tell me very little. Fine, so long as the gods see my worth, I'll be thankful. Good day, Sephiroth."

With that, he went on the transport vessel with the twenty men, and set off, heading back to Gaia VII, to at least allow the Federation to know of the fate of the station.

But not everyone was dead in that hanger.

One had lost consciousness, he didn't know when he woke again, but when he did, he felt num, his visor was cracked, all the usual readings that covered it are flickering. He noticed blood on the lower part…wounded…he remembered the shooting, the order to fire by Dr Hojo. He was face down, he pushed himself weakly up to try and look around, but his strength was taking it's time to come back to him.

"All, all units on the station. Any…Anyone, who can, hear me…please respond. Betrayal, b-by Hojo…"

There was silence.

He turned his head, and saw one of the transport ships missing. He gathered that Hojo obviously must've taken one. Slowly, he rolled himself over, onto his back, looking up at the ceiling…he could barely hear anything…

He then looked downwards, towards where his comrades should be. All of them, lifeless. Then he heard footsteps, something coming towards him, from the door to the hanger bay. A survivor…

His neck muscles couldn't hold out, and he simply relaxed, looking up to the ceiling, calm that perhaps, he'll make it with whoever this is…

That quickly changed, as the figure stopped next to him, and he saw it. Darkmega, who was smiling down at him. He knew what it was, the Dark Soul that was suppose to be contained. "Y…You…"

"Don't worry fella. I already got what I needed off the corpse over there. The codes for the ship. You can relax." All what the man saw after that, was the dark buster pointed at his face, then total blackness.

Darkmega looked at the hole that he created right through the GF trooper's helmet, while blood was oozing out…man, that felt good. Darkmega turned his focus to the nearby transport vessel. "…Well now, looks like I'll be going where Hojo wanted me too, just not frozen as all the people back home will be hoping."

Soon, thanks to Sephiroth, as he floated in space, above the space station, the hanger doors opened once again, and another transport ship left the space station. When the transport ship was far enough into space, away from the space station, Sephiroth disappeared…and soon, the electronic storm moved away from the warships, unknown to them, of what had happened.

Darkmega was within the cockpit of the transport ship. He had set the ship on auto pilot, aiming for earth X…He knew that he had to go there. All of his memories before his creation, came from Hub Light, and he was there. Perhaps once his dealt with his light self, he'll get some answers.

As for the other transport ship, the one carrying Hojo, it had landed on Gaia VII, near Midgar, before Rufus and Master Chief took off for the space station…once Rufus knew of what had happened, he felt the need to leave was, completely pointless. Instead, he decided to head back to the Shinra building…Keaton was gonna be pissed.

* * *

The next day…

It was early in the morning, about 7 o'clock, in the hero base. Within one room, laying in his warm and comfy bed, which had gold lined yellow covers, a few yellow pillows with the "Yuan" symbol sewed on in the middle of it, was Yuan Shao, in yellow silk pyjamas. He has just woken up, as the sunlight was coming in through his window.

"Ah! The wonderful light of the morning sun!" he declared, grabbing the top of his cover and moving it off him, and sitting up, looking at the light taking a slow, deep breath.

"Nothing in this time of day can match it's refreshing beams!…except for breakfast, So long as Cao Cao doesn't spit on the bacon again..."

Yuan Shao. Noble, High Minister, Yuan Shao, as he likes being called, is one of the few people in the base that hold any real ranking within the Galactic Federation. His very high sensed, believing himself to be above many people, rarely allowing others to be seen as the same as himself or to even befriend him. So far, only Chad, Dr light, Zelda and Anna are seen as, close enough, to his equals. His on rather good terms with Chad as a friend, as Chad had quickly helped him avoid an angry Samus, when he mistook her for a man…even with the helmet of hers off. Sadly, Yuan Shao seems to lack a few brains cells here and there. His most famous for his grand army that reaches half a million, that is currently remained stationed on Earth V, his fine champions, two that live in the base, and for his wise tacticians, again, two that live in the base.

He is INfamous for one known battle on his world which was the greatest defeat known on that world, when you know of the odds. It was in a vast piece of land called Guan Du, which he lost SEVERLY to Cao Cao, when one argument with them went too far.

In the battle, he had over 200,000 men at his beck and call, and Cao Cao only had 30,000. The most turning point in this, was the infamous Wu Chao supply depot incident, which has always come back to haunt Yuan Shao…the place the chosen location for, as said, his supply depot, that held his large army's supplies…it was all burnt thanks to Yuan Shao putting very, very minimal guards there, as in, 30 something, and Cao Cao sent a troop of 1,000 to raid it. With the supplies gone, Yuan Shao just couldn't keep the morale up for his men as they started to starve, and with a sudden all out attack move by his old friend, his army was soundly routed, by Cao Cao.

Yuan Shao went into his bathroom, had a good face wash, then clipped any hairs off his moustache if they were seemed out of place, then went back into his bedroom, and noticed his door leading into his room from the corridor of the base was open slightly…He shrugged it off. Maybe Guo Tu, one of his tacticians came to check to see if he was up or something. Yuan then proceeded to get dressed into his armour and small, golden hat, his usual gear to walk around in. He felt that he should always be ready for assassins…although why anyone would want to try an assassinate a moron like him in a place like this, is something no one can answer. Finally, he put on his finely sewn silk cape, which was a golden colour, then walk towards his door.

He opened it fully, walking out into the corridor, smiling away, as if expecting to be greeted….only to find himself greeted, by a bucket of watery mud going over his head, which was placed above his door, the bucket hitting him, then landing with a clang on the floor. He simply stood there, the feeling of such horrid water suddenly striking him stunned him senseless for a moment, as Cao Cao walked up, and gave a face of fake concern. "Yuan Shao, it appears you weren't alert this morning. One should always be cautious when something is out of place, such as your door was."

The frown he gave back could commit murder. "Cao Cao. Do you enjoy making me return to my room and get cleaned all over again just as I left it?"

Cao Cao, tried, to a give a look of innocence. "Now what makes you think I committed the act, your old, long time friend?"

Yuan Shao just glared, then turned and went back to his room, slamming the door shut, as Charlie Nash, once a member of the street fighting tournament, was going by. "Good morning Cao Cao."

"That it certainly is." The king of Wei answered with a small smile, before heading off in the opposite direction, towards the food hall.

Charlie noticed the water on the ground, idly going around it, then continuing down the corridor, untill he arrived just outside one of the rooms and knocking on it. "Anna? It's your half seven wake up call.".

Anna's voice could be heard in the room. "Alright alright. Thanks Charlie."

Then, Charlie went to the door next to Anna's, and knocked on it. "Chad? Wake up call."

There was silence, then, after he knocked a second time, a tired Chad is heard replying "I'm up, I'm up…". Charlie then walked on, his next stop was Samus's room…he was asked to do this by Dr light if people wanted a set time to get up, and it saved money on getting alarms for everyone, and hey, he didn't really mind. It gets him up early, and lets him see people as he goes along.

After a good 10 minutes, Chad came out of his room, looking as if he needed a few more hours sleep. He headed to the dining hall, in corridor 8.

The dining hall is designed to feed all residents in the base, it has over 40 tables, that can have up to 14 people on each. There is a kitchen area on the side of it, which allows them to get the food for themselves, and bowls of fruit are pre-set on the tables. The tables themselves are made of metal, and so the chairs…meaning, sometimes, an icy cold ass in the morning.

Chad arrived, and sat down at a table, where Anna, Roll, Shademan, the Navi Quickman, Ryu Masters, Liu Bei, Zhang Fei and Guan Yu were at.

Quickman was a Net Navi that belong to Chad's long distant cousin, Dave Hayami, who appeared in Chad's life when he was eight, when Dave visited Mobius. Dave is, as Chad calls him, a hippie, and had given Chad Quickman as a present, when he arrived to earth X after having kept in contact with Chad while he lived on Mobius. Quickman is a fast, quick witted, and very sarcastic at certain times…making him like his owner, in many ways.

Ryu Masters is from the street fighter tournament. His very skilled in fist combat, and can unleash blue energy fireballs from his hands…shame that isn't too special around heroes that can unleash a wall of flame or turn their stick into a flame thrower, like Zhang Jiao.

Liu Bei, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei are the three brothers of one of the three major kingdoms on Earth V, called Shu, in which Liu Bei is the king of it.

Liu Bei is one of the most understanding men in the base, who is heavily mocked for his kindness by Cao Cao, who is certain Liu Bei is a closet bisexual. Some people, do agree, especially since it's Cao Cao that Liu Bei appears to be heavily fascinated with when his wife is not around, Sun Shang Xiang, the daughter of Sun Jian, another King from Earth V.

Zhang Fei is a drunkard with a spear, that can bash faces in and eat at the same time. 'nuff said.

Guan Yu is seven foot tall, has a massive beard, is called "the God of War" on many planets and wields an awe-inspiring Guan Dao. He and Zhang are known to be worth at least 10,000 men on any battlefield.

Chad sat down, with Quickman to his left, and Anna to his right. He looked over to a nearby table, and noticed that Megaman was sitting there, instead of sitting with Roll. "…Roll? Can I ask something?" said Chad.

Right away, Anna whispered into Chad's ear, knowing full well what Chad was gonna ask her. "They had a major argument last night. After she kept spotting him watching whatever she was doing all the time, she decided to have a word with him after we finished out meet up. It's over now. She's dumped him. He thought she was cheating on him, and admitted it.".

Chad looked a little surprised at this. Those two had been dating for a good long while now. "Oh…ouch, feel sorry for her…she alright?".

"Yeah, sort of. Kinda wishing Megaman was somewhere else, but that's normal when something goes bad."

Chad nodded, then looked at Roll. "Hey? Roll? You okay?".

Roll nodded, as she was eating a red apple…seems like she didn't have much of an appetite right now, and she did look slightly depressed…

"Come on Roll. At least he told you how he felt now…" Chad said. Roll just continued to eat quietly. Chad sighed, he knew it would take a good while for her to be even a little happy.

Deep down, inside Roll, she was glad Chad was the one trying to talk to her. She hadn't cheated on Megaman as per say, but she has been having her eyes set on Chad lately. It was wrong of her, since she knew her friend Anna had her eyes on Chad as well, but she couldn't help it. There was something about Chad, that made him special to her…In the end, she looked at him, and gave him a small smile, which surprised Chad, who was about to go and get himself something from the kitchen. He just smiled back, then left the table.

Anna right away picked up on this. Her mind reminded fiercely her that 'Depression can do all kinds of things to people',

* * *

"Richard, eight thirty wake up call."

"Already up Charlie. Thanks anyway."

Charlie is heard walking away, from Richard's room. Richard was seen sitting down at a PC in his room, typing away. His room was dark, due to the blue curtains were closed, and the lights were off, leaving only the light from the screen of the computer, to give any glow to the place.

Richard was already dressed, and was busy looking at the main site of GF news, reading about the unknown attack on space station KG995 yesterday. It hit the news fast, since the two nearby warships had personnel that wouldn't keep their traps shut of a sudden slaughter. This seemed to be of no surprise to him. But that could be because he half-knew…the reason he was looking in the first place, was because of a strange dream last night.

It was brief, but he remembered it clearly. He standing within a temple of some sort, with purple mist all over the place, and a marble throne ahead of him, with a man on it. The man had a white bushy beard, bushy moustache, white long hair, and a tanned cloth over where his eyes should be. He was wearing a white robe, and looked quite built. He seemed to be looking down at Richard, well, from the way his head was tilted anyway. And had a voice that seemed to echo across the temple. "Richard…do you know, who I am?"

Richard had just shook his head, he had no idea who the old geezer was.

"Good…Then you may call me Lo. You have a destiny, Richard, one that cannot be ignored, one that, will make you one of the most powerful men, in this universe…"

Richard stayed silent, listening carefully.

"To begin that path of power, you must follow Dark Megaman. He holds the key to your first steps."

"And what if I can't be bothered?"

The being known as Lo seem to slightly smile. "I know you will do as your destiny foresees, for you are like Dark Megaman…I know who you really are, Richard Wily. What evil holds your heart….if you had one."

Richard went quiet again.

"Go forth, see for your own eyes. Watch for Dark Megaman, and you will begin your path to total power…"

That's when Richard woke up, and found himself back in his room, remembering that dream so clearly. Now, he was checking over the site for any news about the Dark Soul on the station, but there wasn't any. Just warnings about a stray transport ship, since one is missing from the space station, and there isn't any signs of debris.

"Bah, maybe it was just my mind being strange on me…". He felt slightly disappointed, that it was most likely just a merger dream. But still, the odd transport disappears, no bodies of the attackers, yet there was a battle…

Then, within his mind, he heard a familiar voice to him. "Perhaps, the ship holds Dark Megaman, escaping through the chaos..". Richard looked at the Dark Wolf.

One of the things only Richard knew, was that the Dark Wolf harboured a soul, one that manifested in the blade. It has refused to tell him where it came from, or why it's only accepted him…it can clearly speak to him inside his mind, thus no one else can hear it's ghostly voice..

"You think so, huh?" Richard said to the blade. It always felt odd talking to, what should be, a lifeless object…

"No question about it. I had seen your dream. It is not the normal ones you have." The Dark Wolf always kept a connection to Richard, which was irritating to him, but, it helps, a lot, when it comes to fighting. The blade teaches him the right attack patterns to use against opponents.

"Hmm. We'll see, for now, lets just wait it out, see if anything happens…"

"Destiny does not just land on your doorstep, Richard.."

Richard smirked. "I know that. Just I got a good feeling that Dark Megaman stole that transport ship…and in the back of my mind? I think it's because he needs to come here…I would, if I were him."

How correct, can one person be. thanks to Sephiroth's powers, Darkmega's ship was in the orbit of earth X, slowly descending into the atmosphere…

* * *

Point outs:

1. In the msn edition that and myself and Chad had, GF warships are such were all non-detailed until much later on, and even then, they were copies of the Galactic Empire imperial cruisers. So I've decided to avoid that, since GF is at war with the Galactic Empire, having copies of their ships would just makes things confusing for both sides.

2. Keaton Al'Keriff. Keaton is a character from the Nintendo power comic of Metroid. his looks are not of it though, since I felt him being a green skinny alien guy just didn't work, in my tastes. so, I gave him the looks of the GUN commander of Shadow the hedgehog. Al'Keriff is a made up last name, just to give him one.

3. The timelines of the Megaman series as been set like this. first, there was classic, then Battle Network. after that, the X series, Zero series and such happened. we're in the Battle Network series, where robots are now seen as slightly inferior to Navis...for now. Legend series is based on another planet.

Bitchin'

-Dragonridley


	3. A Dark Soul: The Return

The ship crashed, right into a forest, ripping through trees and life, as it went, until it finally came to a stop, damaged, and covered in wood life, but intact…

Rain had been falling onto this forest, as it was covered with droplets in the bushes, trees, flowers…it was quiet…the now sunlight, after the cloud had dispersed, was beaming down onto the crashed ship…when the sudden yell of "Dark buster!" came from it, and the cockpit glass screen was suddenly shattered by a purple energy shot.

Leaping out of the broken glass, and onto the moist earth, buster ready, was Darkmega, looking alert at his surroundings, unsure of where he landed. He expected to be surrounded by a scouting group or something at least…but all there was, was a cute, little red squirrel, sitting in a tree nearby which hadn't been felled by the ship, looking at Darkmega with interest…it was blown apart, it's flesh dropping to the ground, by a well aimed dark buster shot.

Darkmega smiled…any little kill seems to give him a momentary high. He started to move away from the crash, looking around, trying to get his bearings. He knew he wasn't too far off his mark, the base.

"Alaska…man it feels good to be back on my home planet." He gave a small chuckle at the end of that, and begun to move through the forest. But, as he did, he couldn't help but feel he was being followed by something, numerous things at that…

The more he walked, the more he felt those eyes were on him, he didn't dare look behind him, as his mind was telling him something was. Soon he just got more and more annoyed, and decided that whatever it was needed to be killed, and spun round, aiming his dark buster.

He had to admit, he doesn't quite ready for the two thousand and somewhat number of Heartless that were gathered, from the weak little black ones and the solidier sort to the more powerful ones such as ones known as Fat bandits and Gargoyles.

He knew he saw SOMETHING on the space station as he sneaked around to the way out, but he didn't expect them to be able to follow him all the way here. He was expecting them to attack, but instead, they just stared at him. "…Who sent you? Were you on the space station, the reason all hell broke loose?"

Heartless have a unique way of expressing what they would say. They send the information, and the person receives it, but the gap that includes speaking or even psychic talk, is left empty…it's simply transmitted to the person without the need of words. They simply expressed that they do not know of this space station, but something had called them, and when they arrived…His state as a Dark Soul was a calling to them, an aura to listen to and obey. To them, he was their master now, and they were willing to follow him wherever he went.

"So, I'm your master then? Hmm, well, you lot would be perfect for meat shields…alright then, lets go and visit my light self. Time to show who's come home to stay." Darkmega was certainly happy about this, an army behind him is a useful asset once he starts feeling murderous again.

As he turned and begun leading the way out of the forest, he noticed a few black feathers landing on the ground close by, and was sure there was one more pair of eyes that had been watching as the Heartless begun to appear…

* * *

It was about 12ish now, in the base. In the main room, was Chad, Roll, Anna, Shademan, Samus and Link. All of them had recently heard from Dr Light about the space station incident, and, to Dr Light's view, the Dark Soul has been lost thanks to those "ruthless and reckless" attackers….to everyone else, this was great news if it was destroyed. No more need to get worried over it.

Chad was mainly thinking about his next fight now, after Dr Light said about the Dark Soul. Earlier on, after breakfast, he talked to Cao Cao about if he asked the person who wanted to go up against Chad about a fight, and Cao Cao replied the man was ready whenever Chad was, and Chad decided today to take him on, and THEN asked who it was…

To Anna's and Roll's and…everyone else's horror when Chad told them who Cao Cao had just lined him up for, was Lu Bu.

Lu Bu…Everyone calls him the "real god of war." in the base. His fame is legendary, as he is known in all of the GF territory. Many people quiver at the thought of the man, and many more flee from the sight of him. Those of the base that LIVE with him are considered the bravest beings. He knows no fear, and waits for a challenge from someone who thinks they can match him…Mr T, a fighter from Earth II, was able to actually land a few blows before getting smashed down by the seemingly inhuman man.

His seen as the undefeated one in the base, and holds the winning streak of 35 currently in the training room.

Although Lu Bu certainly doesn't lack anything in the brute strength department, he does seem to be missing the odd basic brain cells. The infamous panicked look, pointing and going "behind you" trick has a good chance of working, mostly due to Lu Bu never wanting to be struck by anyone and often suspects someone who dare to try and cowardly hit him from behind…just the question of wanting to stay there when he turns back to you, knowing his been tricked.

Shademan was giving Chad morale boosting comments "So, what would you like on your grave? Roses or daisies?"

Samus quickly got something in as well "If there isn't enough of you left, do you want us to cremate you?"

"Ah shut up guys. Just watch, I'm gonna beat him without even having to resort to any chaos energy tricks. You'll see." Chad replied with.

Anna sighed and looked at Chad. To her point of view? She was betting there won't be anything left of her dream man if he gets into this fight. "Chad, you still got another 30 minutes to drop out. I really don't think this is a good idea, I mean, Lu Bu is Lu Bu, no one likes to fight him unless they want to be beaten senseless."

"Anna, I'll be fine. Honest!" he chuckled slightly, to try and make her relax slightly about all this…but it didn't help. It just reminded her of how careless and overconfident he can be. Chad sighed. "Anna…if it gets too much, I'll pull out of the fight and let him win, okay?"

"Alright Chad.."

"Come on, lets all head over to the training room before it starts." Chad said, as he started to walk off down one of the corridors. The others followed.

Soon, they arrived at the entrance of the training hall, were it appears people had already gathered inside…quite a few…nearly everyone in the base. Seems like they all want to see this fight between Chad and Lu Bu.

They all started to walk inside, until Roll suddenly grabbed Chad's arm, without Anna noticing, and made him stay with her outside the training hall. The others simply went to into the crowd, sitting at seats…that's when Anna noticed, but she felt that maybe Roll was sitting somewhere else, and Chad's just quickly thinking things over, with any luck…

Roll was giving Chad a sweet smile, as he looked baffled at her. "hey…Roll…what's up?"

Roll replied, by giving him a quick kiss on the cheek first, then by saying " Oh, just wanted to say that I think you can ruin Lu Bu, without too much trouble, if you don't get overconfident about it."

"Oh…well. Thanks for the support Roll. I'll try to keep my head together." Chad was stunned….he quickly shook it off as a friendly kiss, but his mind said that maybe someone likes him…he quickly denied any of those sort of thoughts, as he went inside first, and eventually, Roll followed.

Surprising to them, Lu Bu was already there as well, sitting at one end of the room, with his fabled lunar spear. Cao Cao was seen at the front of the crowd, his arms folded, a serious look on his face. Guan Yu was close by to Cao Cao, stroking his beard as he stood there. "Many people have tried to beat Lu Bu, and all have failed. Pray tell me why you chose this boy to try and take him down?"

Cao Cao seemed to think about it for a moment, then answered "To see the limit this boy has, Guan Yu. If anyone can show everyone in this base their limitations, Lu Bu is the one."

Lu Bu got up, the moment Chad came in, and everyone who was talking, suddenly went deadly silent. Roll had just walked and sat next to Shademan, Anna and the others.

Lu Bu looked at Chad carefully, then, he smirked "A boy? This is who Chad Malyan is? A child? Pathetic!"

Chad got his blade of darkness ready. "A little kid that's going to show you a world of hurt."

For a weak retort, it gave Lu Bu pause, he looked at Chad carefully, especially the moment Chad pulled out the Blade of Darkness. Then, Lu Bu smiled a little…and moved towards the centre of the training hall, as Chad did too…both were now standing only a few feet apart, looking at each other. "Pray now, Malyan, for mercy from any of the gods you believe in, even Blind Lo or Azrael…for I won't grant you any."

Chad looked Lu Bu up and down, then, looked right into his eyes, and said "You, my tall friend? You, are gonna be too easy for me!"

* * *

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow…"

If there was a needed written example of a curb stomp battle, what had occurred in that training room was it.

Chad could barely remember the fight itself, it was a few clashes of their weapons, Lu Bu kicking him in the gut, then sending his blade of darkness out of his hands…then…it was the worst beating he had since he fought his enemy Chaos…and that guy's beatings were not so bad.

Roll and Shademan were quickly dragging Chad towards the hospital, in his ruined state. They had seen the fight, and to everyone's point of view, Chad was Lu Bu's punching bag for the duration of those 20 minutes of hell. And Lu Bu was being KIND to him, by tossing his weapon aside when he knocked Chad's Blade of Darkness away, and just bashed Chad around with his bare fists. Anna had fainted when she swore she heard a bone breaking sound coming off Chad, and Samus is now looking after her until she recovers.

Chad had black eyes, cut lip, bruises nearly all over, and was barely able to stand up with his own weight right now. Lu Bu didn't let up for one moment…soon, they arrived in the hospital, where Dr light, and the medic of the base, the expert healing Navi, Medi, are seen.

Medi the Net Navi. To describe her simply, she's a flirter with an awesome ability to heal even the most serious of wounds. Her expertise had made her invaluable in the base. She normally flirts with Quickman, Link, Jak and Megaman, Although Megaman hasn't been much in her favour lately thanks to his problems with Roll, So right now, she's mainly pursuing the other three.

She's also the one in charge of handing out sex protection. So if anyone needs a condom or the pill, male and female. The male one is designed for, so far, Navi's only. Dr light is still trying to create one for other race males…even though it'll make them feel awkward when they say they got "the pill". Regardless, if any sex protection is needed, skip the docs, go see Medi for the options.

Dr Light looked at Chad, and sighed. "Let me guess, went in bragging, and got taught a lesson?"

Chad just grumbles, as Roll and Shademan help him to a bed in the hospital room. Medi right away begins to check on him. Soon enough, Medi smiles at him, and says"Well, I think recovery chips will sort this out. About 6 of them, so if you feel slightly drugged, don't worry, it'll wear off. Lu Bu didn't do any major damage beyond bruising everything and making you bleed."

Recovery chips are from the battle chips that Navis and only Navis, could use once. Nowadays, thanks to a liquid that's injected into people called "Battleus Serium", The skin of humans and other races that have had the injection, is adapted to "reading" the data of battle chips, and actually forming the devices.

Unlike Navi's though, it doesn't completely morph that part of the body, if it's a cyber sword or cannon. Instead, these certain offensive chips, when activated, are empty in the centre, apart from a handle, which is held onto, and squeezed on certain chip data, to use the device, such as the cannons and vulcan cannons. There's just a basic handle for the sword's. once the handle is let go, the device deactivates, allowing the person to choose another weapon.

Although useful, battle chips are known to cause exhaustion when continually used in a short span of time. Those who aren't so energised as others, can become exhausted a lot faster.

Medi walked off to the extra storage room to fetch the six needed recovery chips. Chad just looked at Roll now, and the face he pulled, was a slight apologetic one. He couldn't help that he was too cocky for his own good sometimes.

"Sorry Roll. Guess I couldn't help myself.". He said.

Roll sighed, and smiled sweetly at him. "It's alright Chad, I knew deep down that you wouldn't be able to…but you defiantly got some praise for just even standing up to Lu Bu, at your age. You were his youngest opponent so far. I heard Cao Cao saying rather positive things about you."

Chad smiled back at her…he had to admit…there was something there, within Roll's smile…that made him feel a warm glow inside…That was quickly stopped mind, when Anna suddenly ran in, tears flowing, hugging Chad in a death grip-like vice, just as Medi returned.

It took a good few minutes to pull Anna away, before Chad could use the chips. After using them, he had felt slightly light headed, as he skin and face quickly healed, but it soon wore off. Anna was making sure that Chad could only see her worried look, as she stayed right close.

Chad tried to look at Roll, only to find that she quietly left while the chips were being used.

Chad then looked at Anna, and gave her a smile. "See? I'm alright now. No need to be worried sick, huh?".

Anna was clearly annoyed with his attitude at the moment. "You could of got killed! It sounded like he was breaking every bone in your body during that so-called fight!"

Shademan put a hand on her shoulder. "Anna, it's alright now. Medi said nothing major was damaged. His fully healed up, and seems ready to leave the hospital."

Medi looked at Chad carefully, then nodded in agreement. "Yeah, your good to go sweet thing."

Chad, did have to admit something to himself through, he was sure his bones did get broken during the fight, he felt his rib cage give way at one point, yet now, it's all okay…well, to him, that's in the past now, and he got off the bed, and left the hospital, with Anna and Shademan quickly following him. In the main room, smirking at Chad the moment he walked out of the hospital, is Richard. Roll is also seen there, as is Quickman.

Chad looked at Richard, knowing why he was smirking. "Oh, it's you. Came out of your room did you, and heard about the fight?"

Richard nodded. "Lost that badly huh? Oh dear dear, Chad. Seems like your not as powerful as you always thought you were."

"So who told you then?" Chad asked…but it wasn't hard, with the way Roll was looking guilty. "Roll, why? Why tell him of all people in this place? Do you like Richard mocking me or something?"

"No! Just, his a good friend. It was idle chit chat!" Roll responded.

"Right. Idle chit chat to someone who seems to want me dead, about me losing a fight, showing I'm weaker then he properly realises."

Richard pretended to act hurt. "Want you dead? Me? Oh come now Chad…I just want you heavily mauled and on the brink of death, not actually DEAD."

Anna quickly went in Chad's defence…even though he didn't need it, as he was about to just walk away. "Yeah well Lu Bu is a hard bastard to beat! Unlike you! Chad could beat you easy!"

Richard seemed to glare at her for that, which made Chad sigh, and put his hand over his face and mumble "Anna…really? You're as bad as Roll now…"

Richard then focused on Chad. "If I remember, the last time you and I had a fight, it ended in a clear draw…You, me, training room. Right now. Unless your afraid of getting another beating like you did from Lu Bu?"

Chad gave Anna a slight look of annoyance, as she shrugged innocently. She had problems with Richard too, as his the only one Anna gladly provokes. She's never explained why to Chad, but seems to get him in the mess now and then with Richard because of it.

Quickman smiled at Chad, and said "Come on Chad, you can take him this time! You know it man! Lu Bu was beyond your league, this guy is right in it!"

Chad looked at Richard…just as Richard mouthed to him 'Come on, you fucking pussy, lets see what you got.'. Well, one round against his, what he classes as his rival, wouldn't hurt. "Alright Richard. Fine. You, me, training room. 5 minutes."

"Done." Richard quickly walked off, towards the training room.

Once Richard was out of sight, Anna gave Chad a little hug, and a small kiss on the cheek…that's her and Roll now…'MUST be a friend thing with girls' Chad was thinking.

"I know you'll beat him Chad! He's a lot easier for you then Lu Bu!" Anna said to him, while still in the small hug, keeping them close…which was making Chad feel quite in a state of bliss in his own little world. Roll was slightly jealous with Anna's move, but stayed silent.

"Heh, I know he will be Anna. Why don't you stay here with the others, while I go and beat him into the ground?"

Anna let go of him, and understood. Chad walked off, towards the training room…

….Maybe this time, he could defeat Richard. Richard had no special powers like Chad, but was easily able to hold his own. Something was odd about Richard, and Chad has always wanted to find out what…

* * *

Back on Gaia VII, Keaton was at the Shinra tower top floor again, with Rufus and the Master Chief…the news of had happened yesterday had pissed him off, and today's news that they are unable to find the other transport that has been reported missing, had made things worse.

Keaton looked like he could burst. "What, the HELL, is going on…first, we have confirmed recording from the visors of the bodies that Heartless had stormed our station, over two hundred troops slaughtered, secondly, we have no clue where the Dark Soul is, and finally, if it escaped on a transport ship, we can't find it!"

"Someone wants that thing loose before we can act, and whoever they are, they're fast." Master Chief replied.

Keaton frowned at him. "Thank you, for stating the obvious…look, I want answers, and I want them now! I can't run this Federation if we got some kind of psycho let loose!"

Rufus coughs a little, making Keaton look at him. "Perhaps, grand commander, the Villian Ministry may have something to do with it?"

Keaton shook his head. "No. They wouldn't try a stunt like this without a permit. They know the agreements and have upheld them for 164 years so far without fail."

"The Hero Ministry isn't the type either…so we're looking at the Galactic Empire, the United Federation of Planets, or perhaps just a small force, trying to cause despair.." Rufus suggested, while putting one of his hand through his hair, making sure it stays in the same shape it's always in.

"The Drakon Empire is a possible one. We've been having a lot of problems with peace talks lately with them." Master Chief added. But Rufus shook his head.

"No, Their not stupid as to do something like this. They like to be on the defensive right now with us. Any battles fought on their one planet, we always fail on, no matter what we send at them."

Keaton sighed in annoyance, then noticed that a certain someone still hasn't arrived. "…Where is that egg shaped idiot? That Dr Robotnik?"

"I told him this morning to go and inform Dr Light and Dr Wily personally about the disappearance of their Dark Soul project. Most likely to come back with a reply from them, asking for compensation or something, from what I've read up, those two know where to find the loopholes with the Federation in order to make it cough up some cash." Rufus said.

Keaton was just LOVING this now…those two docs just love big, fat, juicy pay cheques from the GF when something goes wrong…and with the planned payments to the families of the men that died on the station, this was becoming a major bill…

* * *

Chad hit the ground, from a powerful knee to the stomach, and quickly rose his Blade of Darkness to stop the Dark Wolf from coming down on his head, while he was trying to recover.

The fight between these rivals had slowly entered Richard's favour, thanks to his defensive stance and planning of attack. It had been a good three quarters of an hour since they started their fight.

Chad had the edge at first, since he relentlessly attacked, with his Blade of Darkness and Chaos energy powers, but now, the Chaos energy power had run low, and Chad resorted, at one point, to use his true, mobian form, that of a red hedgehog, to beat Richard, but he soon changed back into his human form when he got tired from continuous dodging and getting the odd hit for being a little reckless.

Chad was able to morph between these two forms, human and hedgehog, at free will. His chosen to stick with human, especially after leaving Mobius with Anna. In his Mobian form, His speed was greatly boosted, as was his eyesight and jumping ability.

Richard was outmatched at first, but once he got the feel of his opponent, and plans out what battle chips, his speciality, to use, Chad is now the one being outmatched instead of it being vice versa.

Richard had a very good memory, which was useful when you carry a good 40 battle chips around with you. He could always remember exactly what battle chips he had, and quickly form a plan on when, where and how to use them, and with the dark wolf suggesting to him what type of sword attacks he should use to effect the enemy, he becomes a frightening person to face.

Another edge to him was his superior endurance, most people get tired and need to recover after just 15 to 30 battle chips, depending on what they use, and how many times they use the same chip before swapping. Richard is able to use 40 battle chips, all more then at least three times, and still is able to stand his ground with his sword afterwards.

Chad pushed the Dark Wolf away with his sword, and tried to stab Richard in the stomach…only for Richard to use an Area Steal chip, which allows him to briefly teleport, and moved several feet away from Chad, smirking.

Then, Richard put into himself, a Hi-cannon chip, an upgraded version of the normal cannon chip, and it formed over his spare hand, while his other hand held the Dark Wolf, and aimed the blue cannon at Chad, and fired a yellow energy shot from it.

Chad had easily dodged the attack, by rolling to the side of it, and decided to use one of his own battle chips, and formed a normal cannon on his spare hand, which was green, and fired a smaller energy shot from it at Richard. The Hi-cannon Richard had, had deactivated, and an energy barrier formed around Richard, stopping the shot.

Chad kept firing the cannon, over and over, towards Richard…it wasn't just a desperate attack, Chad had an idea in the back of his head with the barrier chips Richard has. His only got the weakest ones, which need one hit to disable…he was hoping Richard will keep making the a barrier to deflect each shot sent at him.

And it was working. Richard was making a barrier over and over, not even caring about getting shot at. He knew he could easily outbeat Chad with this stupid little idea of continuoius fire, all he had to do, was wait... This idea was done before, and Chad had got breathless before Richard even broke a sweat.

…but that wasn't the actual plan Chad had. He was watching the speed of Richard's reactivation of the barrier…then, he put his Blade of Darkness on the floor, and got another cannon chip out, making it form on his other hand…and started to fire in-between the shots of the first cannon.

It had worked.

Richard was really trying to make the barrier fast enough to deflect each shot, but once one got through and hit him square in the chest. The rest followed, and he was continuously barraged by energy shots, as he tried to stay standing up and tried to get another battle chip out, but just couldn't.

The glow of the energy shots, the blows of pain he felt from them, dropping each battle chip he tried to get, and trying to deflect the shots with the Dark Wolf, which he did a few times, had made him lose this fight, as he finally fell to the floor, after an energy shot to the face, which made him yell in pain. That's when Chad stopped firing.

Chad looked at Richard, as he started to try and get up, looking battered like hell from that attack of Chad's. Chad just got up, disabling both cannons, and picking up the Blade of Darkness. "Well, you did good Richard, but I finally caught you out. I win."

Richard had finally got up, trying to ignore the pain, picking up his Dark Wolf…the energy shots from those cannons had left his clothing damaged slightly, and he had slight burnt marks on his face, from the direct contact with one of the energy shots. "Bullshit….this is bullshit…I can't have lost that one, I was so close, you were weakened so badly."

Chad smiled at his rival. "That's your downfall my friend. You got a little bit overconfident when you thought you had me in the bag. Whereas I'm always overconfident, 24/7."

Richard looked at Chad with a glare, and mumbled "I lost to him, that idiot…damn, that's going to leave a real mark on my pride…"

Chad put his sword away, then walked over to Richard, and put out his hand to shake. "Well, maybe you'll win next time, huh? You did good again, ya know. You keep me on my feet most of the time."

"Oh?"

"Well it's true. I hope you train and get a little bit better, so I can have a good rematch with you. How's that sound?"

Richard was now giving him a darker glare, which made Chad move his hand away, and understand that, Richard wasn't in such an agreeable mood at the moment. "you fail to understand Chad…that victory was a fluke. The next time we fight, I'll win…". Richard then put away his dark wolf, and walked, with a slight limp thanks to one of his legs being hurt a lot more then the other, towards the exit of the training room. " This, my "friend", is a one off…you never win against me, ever again, I swear….". He then left the room, leaving Chad alone.

Chad just stood there, looking at the exit where Richard left from, and sighed. "So much for trying to patch things up between him and me….stubborn bastard.."

Richard was mortified. That fight was his. He had Chad in the palm of his hand, yet…he lost… as he walked down one of the many corridors, heading towards his room, he was thinking it over. He had the brains in that fight, he had the edge to it after a little while. Was it really overconfidence that cost him the fight?

He just refused to believe it. Chad was the overconfident idiot between them. He had let his guard down, that was all. He wasn't ready for a plan like that…then, his train of thoughts about the fight stopped, as he saw, just going into his room, a little black creature…

He got his Dark Wolf ready, and went into his room, prepared. only to find that, the creature wasn't in his room at all…his room was still as dark as he left it this morning. He quickly switched the light on, and the thing still wasn't around. He had expected it to hide in the dark. He walked to his bathroom, and switched the light on…nothing.

He sighed in relief, then went to the mirror of his bathroom, looking at his face…soon, the thoughts of the fight came back…the creature must have been a brief illusion or something…

He mumbled to himself "It was fluke…nothing else…Chad would've lost that…come on Richard, you'll have him next time. Just rest, and recover for now…" he nodded to his reflection, which done the same of course, and he went back into his bedroom, and sat down on his bed, in the dark, with the door closed…

….he stopped for a second….the light was on a moment ago…and the door was open…

Then, he felt something, something inside his heart. He could feel an essence in the room, one that was exactly the same as his own…he stayed quiet, and slowly looked around…lots of little yellow eyes were looking at him…and in a corner, was where he felt the essence come from. There, was a pair of deep red coloured eyes, looking at him, the curtains slightly open, allowing a little bit of light in, enough to show the figure of who it was….it was Darkmega, and he was slightly smiling at Richard.

Darkmega, the moment he got close to the base, could feel Richard's essence as well, and knew an ally would be needed to remove his light self, as he knew his light self would have allies too…he got in through the window, and hid himself with an invisible chip, that Richard had stashed in his small, green metal box, on the table where his PC is, which is right close to the corner where Darkmega is.

He had made a heartless go outside the corridor and have a little search for Richard, but it fled into Richard's room the moment he was walking down the corridor, his dark heart making it fear him slightly, since it was alone.

Richard just sat there, looking at Darkmega, the heartless not moving at all. Darkmega was the first one to speak. "Richard Wily, I presume?"

Richard nodded. "Yeah, that's me…you must be Hubs Dark Soul. Dark Megaman. So, you did escape from the station then."

"Takes a dark soul to know a dark soul, and please, call me Darkmega." Darkmega responded, smirking at Richard. "I need some help with what I'm here to do, and that's to kill my light self, and anyone that tries to stand in my way…interested?"

Richard realised, that this was his time…that figure, Lo, had said about Darkmega.

Go forth, see for your own eyes. Watch for Darkmega, and you will begin your path to total power.

This was one opportunity that was looking right at him, hinting in dreams, and now right before him….why the hell wouldn't he say yes?

Richard smiled at Darkmega, and said "Of course, as long as we kill off a few people I want dead as well, then you got me at your service."

* * *

It was now the evening on Earth, in the Hero Base, when Chad met up with Roll and Anna again after the duel with Richard, in the main room. In the room as well, talking in another part of it, was Link and Zhao Yun.

Chad soon explained how the duel between him and Richard went, and how he had tried to shake Richard's hand after it, in a hope that they could be more like friends instead of enemies.

"No chance in hell huh?" Anna said. She had a feeling Chad would try and smooth things over with the grandson of Dr Wily, but she knew Chad had most likely somehow made a joke which sounded like an insult, and made Richard angry even more with him.

"Nope. He got stroppy and walked off. He really didn't like the fact I was able to outbeat him now. His a good opponent, but he still can't be all friendly and talkative OUTSIDE the training room." Chad replied.

Roll smiled at Chad, and said "Well, how about I go and talk to him about it now? He normally cools off after a good hour or so, and I'm sure that's the case with this as well. See if I can get him to stop being a stubborn so and so, and be nice to you."

This was news to Chad's ears. "Would you Roll? That'll be great. At least he'll be off my 'people who hate me' list at last. Which, without him on it, would still get longer and longer…"

"Heh, I'll see if I can make him join your 'people who like you' list, which is getting smaller and smaller then."

Roll then left the main room, waving at Chad and Anna while leaving. Then, it was all silent for a moment…before Anna looked at Chad, and asked "So…do you think she likes you?"

"Wait what?"

"Do you think she likes you?". Anna was intent on pressing this question on him, by the look on her face, and the way her arms were crossed over her chest…she wanted an answer.

Chad seen confused on WHY she asked. To him, Roll was just a great friend, and she hasn't expressed any feelings towards him, well, none that he thinks count as hints...and that's not a lot. She just likes hanging around him because he gladly speaks to her about any sort of troubles, and she listens. "Anna, no. I don't think she does at all. What's wrong with you?"

Anna went quiet for a moment, before answering "Nothing Chad…nothings wrong. Just a little curious."

Roll was idly walking towards Richard's room. It wasn't often she went to see him, but that was only because he preferred to be alone in his room…she felt sorry for him, always wanting to be alone. He rarely talks to people here, or even bother to stay in a crowd. He does what his gramps or father wants, and then just returns to his room.

She soon began to think about him more…out of everyone here, he only really enjoys the company of her and Shademan…mainly her, out of those two. Richard always seems to keep things to himself, if Shademan or Roll talk about something openly, he rarely puts his view of it across. She also noticed that…she always got this…worrying feeling off him.

Her thoughts were soon interrupted, as she saw her pink haired operator, Maylu Sakuri, run up to her, cheery and happy. "Hey Roll!"

"Hey Maylu. What's up?"

"Oh nothing much, just wanted to see how you're doing. Haven't spoken to you for a few days now! Did you and Megaman sort things out between yourselves?"

Roll face turned sour a little. "It's over with him and me.."

"Oh…"

"Well, it was his fault anyway, he kept on thinking and suggesting that I might be cheating on him. I just told him it was over, and left him alone to think what his lost."

Maylu smiled. "Good idea, then maybe he'll come back to you when his finally realized his mistake."

"To be honest with you Maylu, I hope he doesn't….well, anyway, how's things with his operator, Lan? You still planning to go on a date with him?"

"Well…once he finally realizes that I LIKE him."

Roll giggled. Lan was captain oblivious, sorta like Chad, when it comes to girls. "Think he'll finally know one day?"

"Once I kiss him square on the lips…maybe. Heh. So, where are you off to now?"

"Just gonna go and see Richard Wily. Not a good day for him. He finally lost to Chad."

"It was going to happen sooner or later."

"Yeah. Chad had tried to be friends with Richard, but it didn't go in his favour, and Richard stormed off.. now I'm going to go and see if he wants to be friends with Chad NOW, since he should of cooled off."

"You know it won't happen Roll. His got a big grudge on Chad."

"We'll see." Roll starts walking off. "Well, take care Maylu!"

"See ya Roll!"

Soon, Roll had arrived outside Richard's door, and was about to knock…when she heard his voice through the door. "So, we shut off all the defence systems here. Then…"

She then heard…Hub? "We use the lab computers to copy and form the prototype control chips. Then we can use a few of these saps against the rest. And while they have fun, we can go and deal with my light self."

Roll moved her head closer to the door. She heard Richard again. "and Chad. Both pose a threat. I know Chad, he'll get in the way when we least want him."

"Heh, then we can use this base for a starting point in that idea you had…"

"Using the heartless and creating an empire by slowly overrunning earth?"

"That's the one!"

Evil has always had a way of changing the most basic plans into mad, wacky, and most likely going to fail, full blown schemes….it's called seeing a bigger picture…to get extra fun out of it.

When the fact that Darkmega only wanted to kill his light self dawned on Richard, he knew that couldn't be his destiny, to just help in killing Hub. So, after a simple quick chat, he was easily able to sway Darkmega into thinking big. Big as in empires, world domination, killing sprees, destroying REAL threats, and, the ultimate goal, complete universal domination. Darkmega was unsure first, but Richard assured him that with the imcopetant Keaton running the show, it'll be easier now then any other time.

Roll couldn't Believe what she heard… those two? Hub and Richard? Trying to use the base as a starting point for an empire? That sounded stupid, that, and the Wily family and Light family aren't precisely good bed fellows…but it was enough to go to Dr Light and tell him about it. Without a second thought, she ran off to where Dr Light was bound to be at this moment. The hospital.

Richard swore he heard someone ran from outside the room, but it was most likely just someone who forgot something in their room. Probably Zhang Fei.

Darkmega had heard too. "..Do you think someone was listening in? I could go and chase them down…"

Richard shook his head. "Nah, no one really bothers to come near my room. The chances are it was someone just running by."

"Ah, I see…so, the main question is, how, are you going to disable the defence system, so the docs don't pick me up while I make the control chips? I really don't need a firewall suddenly jumping up and blocking my path, and cannons popping all over the place and blasting me to kingdom come."

Richard looked at Darkmega, and gave him a smile. "How else? I'm Richard Wily Darkmega, all I need to do is get my gramps out of the labs, and hack into it…just how will I know that you won't try anything to…remove me, afterwards?"

"I can say the same thing to you…we're both Dark Souls, we're both evil made into life…I suppose I can't promise I won't and you can't promise you won't either. We're at a standoff."

Richard wanted a better guarantee then that, but there wasn't one. Darkmega was right.

Richard then got up off the bed, which he was sitting on, and looked at the door. "Alright, I'll get things rolling, once I've dealt with the defence system, I'll contact you. Then you go into the net, do your part, and when we created the control chips, stuff them into place, let those victims loose, let your heartless free at the same time, causing complete and utter chaos, then everything should just run as smooth as clockwork from there."

"Right. Just don't fuck up."

Roll had ran back into the main room, and right into the hospital, whilst Chad and Anna were still in the main room, both watching her run by.

Chad looked slightly concerned. "Do you think something's up?"

Anna looked at him, and shrugged. "Properly just period problems or something."

Chad looked at her in disbelief for a moment, before frowning at her. "…Navis don't HAVE periods Anna, didn't you listen to Hub about how the life program works for 'em?"

"…Ah, well, listening to an idiot like him isn't exactly easy, ya know.."

"Right…"

Inside the hospital, stood Dr Light, busy on the hospital computer, Roll quickly went over to him. Nearby them, was Medi, busy tidying the beds in the hospital. "Dr Light! I think Richard and Hub are up to something!" Roll said.

Dr Light didn't even bother to turn and look, but he did stop typing. "I'm sorry, did you just say, Richard and Hub? …You must of heard them wrong."

Roll quickly shook her head. "No Doc! Their planning to shut down our defence systems and use this place as a starting point for an empire!" Dr Light didn't even look at her still, or even reply for a few minutes. "…You don't believe me at all, do you?"

"No. I don't. I think you really must've heard them wrong. Now run along, I have to finish updating the files on everyone here."

Medi looked over to Roll. "Roll, listen, maybe making something like that up to get Hub in trouble isn't such a good idea, ya know. Maybe you should just go for now, and leave it alone."

Roll felt gutted and isolated. Dr Light wouldn't believe it, and his suppose to be weary of any strange things going on…if he won't bother taking any notice, who will?…and the answer came right into her head, and she ran back into the main room.

Inside the main room, Chad and Anna were still there, standing with them, was Pang Tong and Liu Bei of the Shu Kingdom of Earth V, and Xiahou Dun.

Xiahou Dun is famously known in the base for his one eye. But that hasn't so far stopped him from being a complete badass when it came down to it. He was one of the more skilled fighters of Earth V, and is fiercely loyal to his cousin Cao Cao, and his friends. His 36, and had been fighting in wars since he was 21. He gladly tells everyone about how he lost his other eye in battle, and even goes as far as to show the empty eye socket…making the more weaker stomachs in the base feel a little sicky.

Pang Tong…is not so famous. At 29, His now called the great hobo of the Shu Kingdom. He smells, wears rags for clothing, walks around like his got a hunchback, and he smacks people with his stick. His actually does have a role in the base though. Dr Light and Dr Wily needed someone who was willing to train to learn how to drive machines of nearly any sort to get people to destinations and back, and Pang Tong was the only one willing…only because his always wanted to control a form of transport on the roads and in space. He had no experience at first but Dr Wily and Dr Light didn't care, and still let him become the base's "Taxi" driver. A year on, and his now pretty decent at it.

The reason as to why the people of Earth V don't kill each other when they know they're from different kingdoms on the planet, is because of the peace treaty they signed with the Galactic Federation. This denied them any sort of wars or battles, unless they want the Federation to rain down on them. Four years after the peace treaty was formed, three Kings of the planet heard of Dr Lights idea of a base, and chose to use it as a way to get away from their planet and stop being watched over by the Federation, which the other nine kings, untill Yuan Shao came to the base, were content with.

Cao Cao chose to join for the exact reason above.  
Sun Jian was that reason, plus the fact he felt being here away from home was better for his second eldest son, Sun Quan, that was now in command of his forces back home. He didn't want to be a burden to his child. His eldest, Sun Ce, came too.

Liu Bei simply came because it was a great chance to see another world and new people, something he enjoyed doing.

Pang Tong was the first to notice Roll looking worried, and coming towards them. "Well, if it isn't one of the bases more friendly faces. What's the matter Roll? That ex of yours causing trouble?"

Roll soon stood with them. "Yes Pang Tong, that's exactly it. Look, I know this will sound crazy but, guys, I heard Richard and Hub talk in Richard's room about a plot to create an empire. By starting here!"

Xiahou Dun looked at Roll, with a look of confusion. "…Sorry, what?"

Chad gave her the same look. "Roll…Neither Richard and Hub like each other. Sure, if it was Richard alone, I'd get worried because he can pretty much disable everything in this base within a blink of an eye because of being the grandson to Albert Wily, thus knowing the passwords and codes. But both? Come on Roll…look, did Richard say that to just get rid of you? Did you try to hug him again to cheer him up? Remember the last time the amount of swear words came out of his mouth."

Roll was crestfallen…she had hoped Chad would believe her, even slightly. But then, she started to question it herself…Chad was right. Hub is from the Light family, and Richard is from the Wily family. Even though Dr Light and Dr Wily get along, the rest of both sides don't. They taunt, annoy, and pester each other, normally ending up getting told off by the old docs.

Just at that moment, Richard had walked by, and walked into the labs. As he walked by, he looked at Chad with a frown of annoyance. Chad looked at Richard, in the eyes, and underneath that frown…he noticed something…something that made his spine tingle.

The moment Richard disappeared into the labs, Chad looked at Roll, now suddenly understanding her worry. Richard normally had a feeling of depression, now, he was giving off a feeling of want. Heading to somewhere with reason…Chad had a nack for picking up things like this. Especially with people he hanged around with, like Richard.

Both of them failed to notice what Anna, Liu Bei, Pang Tong and Xiahou Dun were talking about. Anna smelled the air, and noticed a fowl stench…which was coming from Pang Tong, which is normal, thanks to his lack of washing himself, but today just seemed, worse. She looked at him, and just had to ask him a question that shes been waiting to ask for sometime. "Pang Tong? Look, no offence, but, is it your clothes that stink? Or is it you?"

Pang Tong looked at her. "Proberly both. I only bath on a routine of once every year."

"Don't you even wash your clothing? Or even get new ones?"

"Oh yeah, I get new ones…just a wear them over old ones."

Xiahou Dun looked at Pang Tong. "Horseshit. You possibly can't be that bad."

"Well…" Pang Tong looked reluctant. He turned to Liu Bei. "My lord, do you remember one day when you gave me a silver robe as a gift, because my clothes were so ragged?"

Liu Bei nodded. "Of course. I was careful to have it tailored in the same style as your usual attire. It looked good on you."

"Still does." Pang Tong spread his arms, displaying his brown robe. He sounded a trifle embarrassed as he added, "I.. uh… don't get to the dry cleaner's too often these days…"

Anna looked horrified at Pang Tong. "Ewwwwwww!"

Liu Bei was pretty much in the same state as Anna. "You mean to tell me that thing is the same… but… Pang Tong, how often have you washed it since I gave it to you 7 years ago?"

Pang Tong looked at his lord, and shrugged innocently" Well….maybe… six times?"

Xiahou Dun just felt sick…by the thought of what Pang Tong said, and that he was standing near this fella. "You, Pang Tong, have got some problems…"

Just then, Dr Light came out of the hospital, walking towards Chad and the others. "Chad? Anna? Liu Bei? Xiahou Dun?"

Chad was the first to reply. "Yeah doc? What's up?"

"Could all four of you go and greet Dr Robotnik for me? His just gone through hyperspace and entered earth's orbit. His most likely brought the Dark Soul with him. He did say it was something important."

Anna seemed surprised at this. "Wow, that was, really fast."

"Perhaps they were able to quickly ship it out before the bandits attacked. Whatever the case, I want you to help escort Dr Robotnik and the Dark Soul to the labs. I need to just finish up the files."

Liu Bei, Xiahou Dun, Anna and Chad nodded, and begun to leave.

Roll looked at Chad. "Chad, wait!"

Chad stopped, and looked at Roll, with a smile on his face. "Don't worry about Richard, if he causes any trouble, I'm sure I can kick his ass again."

* * *

Soon, the Four were waiting outside. It was rather pleasant this evening, with the sun just gone down, and the sky clear… the transport ship that carried Dr Robotnik soon landed, and he came out of it, with two GF troopers, who, as soon as they saw Chad and the others, headed back inside the transport, knowing Dr Robotnik would be safe.

Dr Robotnik walked towards them, with a look of concern. "Where is Dr Light and Wily? I need to speak to them both. It's rather important."

"Both are inside, Dr Light is expecting you to go to the labs with…" Anna said, whilst looking behind Robotnik, at the transport ship, expecting the GF troopers who went back inside to bring out a chamber or something, carrying the dark soul. "…I'm guessing something bad has happened? With the Dark Soul?"

Dr Robotnik nodded. "It's…gone missing."

Chad sighed. Deep down, he KNEW this was going to happen. "Great…well, we best get you to Dr Light, so you can explain to him about it."

The explanation didn't go down too well… Chad, Anna, Liu Bei, Xiahou Dun, Pang Tong, Roll, Shademan and Ryu were in the main room, near the hospital door, listening in. it's been 20 minutes since they got Dr Robotnik into the hospital. Dr Wily, His son Dr Regal and Dr Light's son Dr Yuichiro soon went into the hospital after Dr Robotnik's arrival.

Inside the hospital, Dr Light, Dr Wily and their sons were looking at Dr Robotnik in disbelief that the dark soul had been allowed to escape…so much for GF security.

Dr Regal seemed to be in deep thought about the situation. "This is rather bad. The Dark Soul is sure to be violent and aggressive, it could cause a lot of disruption without any control over it."

Dr Wily then said. "What about Hojo? Is he alright at least?"

Dr Robotnik nodded. "He escaped alive with a squad of troops that survived."

Dr Light looked at Dr Robotnik. "Do you have any idea where the Dark Soul might have even fled to? Or where it could be going?"

"I presume it will flee to the far reaches of space. Most likely out of GF territory to avoid capture, if it's wise."

Dr Wily shook his head "No…Hojo's report concluded it had plans…plans that included it's Light Self. It most likely sees him as a natural threat."

Dr Light thought about this, and cocked an eyebrow at Wily "So, you think it might come here? Albert, the Dark Soul would just get itself destroyed if it tried to even get in, everyone would notice it."

"Would they Thomas? Would they? Think about it. This Dark Soul has proberly thought this over, and even disguised itself as Hub in order to sneak in, or worse yet, it could get in through the universal network, and attempt to ambush Hub in his room."

"Perhaps, perhaps…we should warn everyone anyway. If Hub acts strange or an unknown Navi is seen going through the net, they should contact us right away."

Dr Wily nodded. "Yes. Now.." He looks at Dr Robotnik. "There is this matter of…compension for our loss of research Ivo Robotnik. Afterall, we did put a lot of trust in the GF, and they have let us down.." Dr Wily rubbed his hands togather a little, while Dr Robotnik sighed, knowing this would come.

* * *

In the labs, Richard and Darkmega were both there, with eight black chips, finally ready for use…the prototype control chips. Darkmega was one heck of a fast data creator and copier, it comes from his light side.

Richard looked at them, and then looked at Darkmega "So, how do we use them? Or even dispatch them and get people to use them?"

Darkmega smiled evilly, and then looked at the control chips…then at Richard begin, keeping the evil smile, then at the chips again…slowly, the smile faded, as he quickly realised that was one part of the plan they failed to think through. "Shit, I knew something was forgotten…"

Richard sighed "Well that's just great, so much for all the planning on making our own empire, that's gone right out the window thanks to this little glitch."

Then, a voice, a calm male voice came from a corner of the labs. "Perhaps, I, can help you out…"

Stepping out of the corner, his black shades covering his red eyes, his blonde hair gelled back, his arms crossed over his chest, Wearing a black sweatshirt, black trousers and black jacket over his sweatshirt, as well as black gloves.

Richard looked at the guy. "And, you are?"

The man smirked. "Just call me Chaos."

Chaos was Chad's sworn enemy from Mobius. Not much is really known about him, apart from his evil, and seems to hound Chad all the time, no matter where he goes, even now, as Chad resides here in the Hero Base, Chaos still continues. His reasons are, normal, for a person that's labelled evil, takeovers and such. But he always seems to have a deeper mission then that, and he always knows what goes on, like now. He knew when Darkmega was created, when Darkmega arrived in the hero base, and even what Darkmega and Richard were up to…

Either his bloody damn clever, or his a lot more powerful then anyone knows.

* * *

In the main room, Chad and the others had moved away from the hospital door, and were talking amongst themselves.

Liu Bei was looking a little worried. "Would a Dark version of Hub even know how to get here?"

Shademan nodded. "They keep all the memories of their opposing selves. As such, his got Hub's memories. We can expect the Dark Soul to be here sooner or later. With luck, he shouldn't be too hard to contain for the docs."

Chad looked at Shademan in disbelief. "Contain? Hell no Shademan, we're gonna put it out of it's misery if we bump into it. It escaped once from being held, I'm sure it will again if we tried. The docs will just have to accept that fact."

Roll had been thinking a lot since she heard all the docs talk between themselves…especially when she heard "Hub" and Richard talk in Richard's room…she knew Hub wouldn't work with Richard, and slowly, it begun to dawn on her that…with their luck, the Dark Self of Hub is already here. She looked at Chad. "Chad…remember earlier, about me overhearing Hub and Richard talk about taking over Earth and make a foundation for a dark empire by starting here?"

Chad looked at her, as did the others. "…Yeah?"

Roll didn't say anything else…and soon, it dawned on Chad too.

"….Oh shit."

Anna looked worried. "Chad? What is it?"

"Anna, everyone, I think I know where the Dark Soul is. I'll go into the labs and-"

Richard's voice was heard from the direction he was planning to go. "And do what, Chad?"

They had all turned towards the voice, and standing just outside the labs, was Richard, smiling at them. "Surely you don't need anything in the labs, do you? Not with your small brain."

Chad drew the Blade of Darkness out of it's casing. "Richard, I know your up to something!"

"Me? I'm not up to anything…heh…not at all…"

Chad looked at the others. "Pang Tong, Liu Bei. Go and tell the docs what's going on right away!". Liu Bei and Pang Tong did so. "Guys…" He looks at Richard. "Get ready for anything, I know something's wrong with Richard, no doubt there. He might be being controlled by someone."

A voice is heard behind Richard. "Very good Chad...but Richard is not being controlled...he serves me because we want to conquer."

"Who are you?"

The voice is heard laughing…it sounded so damn familiar, but it was darker then what it should be. "I believe you should know by now…I was once a part of a goodie-two-shoes, but now, I have been set loose…and not you, or any of the people in this hero base, can stop me."

Chad looked carefully, as the figure that has the voice walks up to the side of Richard, from the labs. It was Darkmega, his evil smirk and red eyes aiming at Chad. "Oh…this ain't good…"

Zuo Ci was once again nearby the hero base, with Griffon next to him…a bunch of black clouds were seen coming towards the area…thunder could be heard echoing in the distance.

"Master Zuo Ci, a storm comes…" Griffon said, whilst looking towards the clouds. His feathers followed the direction of the wind, which was blowing away from the base, away from the storm…it was going to rain hard, he could feel it in the air. It was going to be a harsh storm…

Zuo Ci nodded, with his eyes closed. "A storm…that will last for years…A new dark era, is about to begin…"

* * *

1. Battle chips are from the Megaman Battle series. Expect them to be used alot in all sagas.

2. If you have no idea on the characters, look up on google or wikipedia. (created characters from Chad and me cannot be looked up of course.)

-Dragonridley


	4. A Dark Soul: Plans for an Empire

Darkmega and Richard looked towards Chad, Roll, Anna, Ryu, Shademan and Xiahou Dun, as they all got their weapons ready. Xiahou Dun with his scimitar, Roll with her arm cannon, which forms into a pink bow, Shademan with his sharp claws, Ryu with his fists, and Anna with nothing…she felt a little embarrassed, since she left her pistol back in her bedroom this one time, but at least she could use battle chips when she needs them…

Chad smirked at Darkmega. He had just appeared right in front of them, in the middle of a base filled with heroes and not-so heroic types that can easily gang up on him and his friend. "Dark Megaman. Well, your gonna be a lot easier to deal with then I thought. You just came right to me without hiding-"

Chad had gone suddenly silent, as a purple energy bullet from Darkmega's arm cannon just missed the side of his head, and barely missed his cheeks as it shot by, and burnt itself into the wall behind them.

"Chad! Are you alright!?" Anna said, obviously worried.

Chad stayed silent, as he looked at Darkmega, the arm cannon still aimed at him.

Darkmega smiled, and lowered his weapon. " Chad Chad Chad… Hub seems to have decent memories of you. A good enough friend of his. First, the name's Darkmega. Second, I only needed to hide for just a little while, in order to prepare things, with Richard's help of course."

Chad kept his Blade of Darkness at the ready. "Prepare for what? To create an "empire"? come on Darkmega, that's delusional. You got to get through everyone here before that would even happen!"

Darkmega just kept smiling. It wasn't a friendly smile, it was an evil one. He was certainly surprised that Chad knew of the plan, but he remembered that him and Richard heard something run off from nearby Richard's room…someone overheard them…oh well.

"Heh…that's the long run plan Chad. I'm talking about the steps to it." Then Darkmega thought to himself 'Once Chaos has given out the chips, that is. He said he could do it in minutes.'

Xiahou Dun pointed his blade at Darkmega. "Shame you won't live to complete those steps! Even as we speak, Liu Bei and Pang Tong have probably told the docs about Richard here, and others are gonna be on their way!"

Richard shrugged. "So what if they have told gramps and the others? We have no real intention to stick around for much longer. oh, and don't be so sure about the others….some of them might not be your friends anymore."

Roll looked surprised at him. "Richard…what do you mean by that? There are others working with you both too?"

"Possibly Roll….possibly."

At that moment, , Samus Aran, Mr T, Cao Ren and Guan Yu arrived, their weapons ready from the corridor closest to the labs, flanking Richard and Darkmega.

Cao Ren of Earth V, Belonged to the Wei kingdom, led by his brother Cao Cao. His into his 40's, and was known for his war experience. He was heavily armoured, and his weapon was a steel shield with a doubled ended blade connected underneath it. He is the smallest officer of the Wei kingdom…of any kingdom to be honest. His a midget. (Well, not a midget, but the shortest of all the earth V warriors.)

Mr T of Earth X. His a Lean, Mean machine, with extreme strength and endurance. He was known for being in the A-Team a few years back before they got disbanded, and for the art he uses, the art of Hokuto Shinken. He came to the base thanks to Optimas Prime suggesting it. He holds, in the training room, the third highest amount of wins in a row. One of his battles, he lifted Megatron of Cybertron by the robot's foot, and spun him around, before slamming him to the floor.

At the same time of these four arriving, Darkmega and Richard heard Chaos, whose adapt in the skill of psychics, in their minds, informing them that his sent the control chips out, personally making sure they get to the targets he felt were usable for a distraction, and made them teleport out of the base.

Richard looked at Darkmega. "Well, seems like we've outstayed our welcome now. Suppose we should leave.".

Chad shouted at them "No! Don't you dare run away!"

Darkmega sighed, and looked at Chad. "Oh? Or what? Your gonna fight us? With just this little band of ten? I'm surprised the docs haven't come out…maybe their scared. Oh well. Richard? How about I leave you to have a moments fun with Chad and his buddies before leaving too?"

Richard shrugged, and moved a few steps towards Chad and co, as Darkmega teleported away. "Meh, sure. Why not? It's only a little bit of fun."

Guan Yu looked towards Richard. "Don't be foolish. We have superior numbers, you should just give up and simply get told off by your grandfather, rather then suffer from losing a fight."

Chad readied his Blade of Darkness. "Richard, don't make me fight you."

Richard rubbed his hands together for a moment, smiling kindly towards Chad and the others…there was a moment of silence… "Alright then Chad. I won't make you…I'll deal with you before you can act!"

Richard had ran forward. Chad was caught off guard for that, and tried to raise his weapon in order to attack…but that was too late, as Richard had shot his right leg forward, and directly hitting Chad in the chest, sending him backwards, and smacking into the ground. Anna activated a cyber sword chip, and swung it at where Richard was, but he had already moved, and was to the left of the sword. He punched her in the face, then quickly turned round to see Xiahou Dun come at him with the Kirin Fang, but before Xiahou Dun could do anything, Richard had socked him in the stomach, then punched him on the chin, sending him upwards a little, before landing on the floor.

Richard only had a moment to recover and turn around, having heard someone running up to him, and found that Guan Yu's Dao blade had been swung at him. Richard quickly leapt back to avoid it, then saw the shadow of Shademan, who had jumped into the air and was diving at him from behind, with his left hand claw ready, and he took a swing…looking shocked, as Richard had managed to get under the attack by ducking, and grabbed Shademans arm. As he stood back up, with Shademan looking at his back, he flipped Shademan over his shoulder, and slammed him into the ground.

Richard had quickly activated a M-Cannon, and aimed it at Samus, as she aimed her arm cannon at Richard. Richard quickly fired his weapon, and knocked Samus back, and to the floor, then aimed it at Ryu, who was preparing one his powerful Hadoken, and fired a few shots to stop Ryu, and knock him on his back to the floor.

He next looked at Mr T, Seeing him run towards Richard. Richard knew fighting him head on was stupid, so he waited, until Mr T was up close and rose up one of his fists, before leaping back, and getting a mini bomb out, and throwing it. It hit Mr T, doing nothing, but caused a lot of smoke, as Richard wanted…as the smoke begun to clear, Mr T was looking around for Richard quickly…and saw the boy, right behind the now flying towards him, Cao Ren. Cao Ren was knocked flying towards Mr T by Richard using a ability called program advance, which allows you to combine three battle chips into one powerful attack. As such, Richard mixed three Hi-cannon chips into an attack called Zeta Cannon, which unleashes a massive blast of energy.

Cao Ren had rammed into Mr T, and both fell to the floor. Richard turned the double handed blue cannon towards Guan Yu, after ducking to avoid another close encounter with the Dao, and fired it at him, knocking the large man flying back and slamming into a wall. Richard looked proud of himself, as he disabled the weapon, until he heard movement behind him. "Ah yes…one more.." behind him, was Roll, with her arm cannon at the ready, with a roll arrow armed, an arrow with a heart shaped pink tip, and aimed at Richard's back.

Roll didn't want to attack him, Richard knew that already, or she would of tried at the start. "Richard…don't make me hurt you, please, I don't want to..".

Richard was thinking of turning around, pretending to have given up, then punching her in the stomach, then choke her for a moment, before chucking her into a wall…

But something held him back, he didn't really want to. The excuse in his mind was that she was weak. She wouldn't be worth lifting a finger to. Richard just teleported away.

Roll lowered her weapon, slightly annoyed at him escaping, and slightly being thankful she didn't have to hurt him, and looked over to Chad to see if his okay, and sighs in relief, as his just seen getting up.

Chad looked around, and noticed that everyone didn't last long, he thought even Roll had tried, and was able to avoid the attack or something. "Okay…that…didn't go the way I was expecting…"

NOW, Dr Wily, Dr Light, Liu Bei and Pang Tong come out of the hospital, looking concerned at the others. "Chad, Roll, everyone! Are you alright?" Dr Light said. Liu Bei rushed over to Guan Yu's side, and checked if he was okay, helping him up.

Chad frowned at him. "Well, some more support would have been great, or even some support from you Liu Bei, and you Pang Tong. It may sound like a hobo and a guy that fights for virtue wouldn't make a big difference, but it could of."

Liu Bei looked hurt at that statement, after he checked his sworn brother for injuries. "We did try to open the hospital door, but it was stuck. Dr Light said someone must of locked it from the labs."

Chad sighed and guessed it must've been Darkmega and Richard, doing so before they came out of the labs.

"And it was…slightly a good thing really. While that had occurred, me and Albert had picked up 8 energy teleport signals in the base on the computer in the hospital." Dr Light added.

Chad was frowning again. "…So?"

"So, as you know, people normally contact me to be teleported. Which means they've been teleported away by someone else other then anyone in this base, since me, Albert, my son and his were all in the hospital at the time."

Roll looked worried. "Wait…Richard said about others working with him and Darkmega, Do you think he meant.."

Soon, the others were up, with mainly Mr T cursing how he let that punk get away, as Chad looked at Roll for a moment, before understanding what she was getting at. "Dr Light? Who were the 8 that teleported out?"

"Well, it was the AI Mother Brain, along with her cyborg body. Sun Ce, Megatron, Sima Yi, the Navi Laserman, Jak, Mario and Sonic. We Got Regal and my son trying to track them now. It shouldn't take too long." Dr Light replied.

Anna wasn't happy with what's happening. "Richard. I knew he would do something like this to us at one point. He always had that evil gleam in his eyes."

Roll shook her head. "No…Richard's entire family is here. Surely he wouldn't do it that willingly…maybe Darkmega threatened to kill them or something, unless Richard helps him.."

Chad had to agree there. Even though Richard seemed like the guy who would willingly do something like this…hell, his a Wily family member, evil is their forte, he wouldn't turn on his own family…heck, he cares for them, as far as Chad can tell, and he likes talking to Roll and some others. He was guessing that maybe Richard was being controlled, not made to by bribe's or anything.

Dr Light was in deep thought over it. "But why 8...why just 8? Why not more then that?"

Chad thought about this too, as did the others…before they all turned and looked at Dr Wily. Mr T beat them to saying what they wanted to say. "Seems like the Wily blood carries the same crazy ideas down the generations."

Dr Wily didn't understand for a moment…but it dawned on him. His old taking over the world schemes always included 8 robot masters, stolen or created by himself. "…Well, I suppose SOMETHING had to be passed down from me to him."

Chad slapped his forehead. "Ugh, great, Richard is pulling a Wily…and we gotta go through it. Damnit! It's only suppose to be Rock that puts up with this shit!"

* * *

Meanwhile, within a dark, purple clouded void, was a black fortress, with no pathways to it, nor from it…it just floated there, on top of a chunk of earth, that was floating in this abyss…inside it, in a huge hall of it, where the floor was tiled with black stones, and the walls held white candles with glowing blue flames, were Richard, Darkmega and Chaos, all near each other. The ceiling couldn't be seen in the darkness around them, the blue flames only giving them enough light to see the ground and themselves.

Darkmega looked around carefully, before focusing on Chaos. "So why do we need to back off? Why couldn't we take them all on at once? You put the control chips in right? With those 8 friends of theirs, we could of easily dealt with them!"

Chaos smiled at him. "Unlike you, I know Chad and his friends very well…with Chad with them, you would have been defeated, and that would have been the end of it. His very special. More special then you could ever understand…that's why we need him out of the way first. These 8 allies we got…they're just diversions until the right time comes."

Richard was looking at Chaos, annoyed with him wearing shades that denied them looking at his eyes. "And what will happen when that time comes then? We jump Chad and kill him off?"

Chaos laughed slightly. "No. We, put him aside. In a place where he can't help his friends, and your empire can grow…then, we can crush him, after he finds out everything is lost, that there's no hope left."

"Why help us anyway Chaos? Your being pretty bold on teaming up with people who want to start universal domination." Richard pointed out.

Chaos stayed quiet for a moment, before responding with "Because I hate Chad a lot more then you know Richard Wily. Your grudge against him is nothing compared to what I have against him."

Richard accepted that reason…with the way Chad is, he would have a lot of enemies that would want to kill him.

Chaos then looked away from them, looking into the abyss beyond the lighted area. "The 8 idiots we have under our thumb should begin attacking in the areas I sent them to. It'll keep Chad and his pals busy until the last one…"

* * *

Back at the hero base, it had been a few hours after the incident with Richard and Darkmega. Chad, Anna, Dr Light, Dr Wily, Dr Regal, Dr Robotnik and Dr Hikari had all gone into the labs to continue tracking the 8 that left the base. Dr Robotnik had contacted Keaton about the situation…and he wasn't pleased that the doc's experiment was running loose, and demanding that if anything should go wrong, THEY'LL be paying for damages.

For once it's not the other way round.

Roll and the others had gone to rest in their rooms until they're needed. Keaton had promised to commence a full scale search for the missing 8...although thanks to the GF and their efficiency, that could take about 6 months. 3 of them include contracts and agreements on doing searches on certain planets, and those papers being lost at least twice and need to be redone.

But that won't be needed…as the tracker on the lab computer finds one person…Mother Brain is picked up on Mute Gaia, where the famous F-Zero racing is mostly held, in it's capital, Mute City.

Dr Light looked worried, when it showed where she was. "Mother Brain is there…that could be a very bad thing. it might be attacking the city."

Wily nodded. "Most likely Thomas, it's too fat and huge to hide in that place."

Chad then knew what to do. "We gotta go and stop it then! I'll go and handle it!"

Anna had suddenly grabbed on his arm, before he could even move…which he wasn't going to do anyway, but she wanted to make sure. "No Chad! Going alone is suicide! The thing might kill you! It's massive!"

"But…we can't just let it run amuck, especially if it's working with Darkmega!"

Dr Light looked at Chad "Anna's right. Fighting it alone is stupid…we'll call in a few of the others to work with you and deal with Mother Brain."

Dr Wily added "And do try and not completely destroy it if it refuses to give up…we could sell off it's robotic remains for a good price."

Chad looked stared at Wily, as did Anna and the others. Wily looked at them all, and shrugged. "What? I'm just thinking of any possible benefits to us, we could do with a updated hologram room…"

Chad sighed. "Whatever you say doc…alright, we need to think who should go. I'm going no doubt, I call first dibs on kicking ass."

Dr Light thought about it carefully. "Well…Samus would be effective, since she's had past battles with Mother Brain…Shademan can fly, which would be useful thanks to Mother Brain's height…"

Chad then suggested Quickman, his Net Navi, due to his speed, and Dr Wily suggested Knuckles for his climbing and gliding abilities.

Knuckles the Echidna, From Mobius, was known as the guardian of the master emerald…until the GF took over that duty for him, saying he wasn't fit for the job. He had tried to beat up a few GF troopers that were trying to escort him off angel island, but was soon arrested…it was the help of Chad and Sonic that got him out of that mess with the GF, and they suggested he stays with them in the hero base for the moment, until they can find a way to help him get his job back…that was over a few months ago, and the GF still completely refuse him.

Soon, the people they had thought up had arrived in the labs and were told of who they were to face, and soon, were teleported to their destination, with Anna staying behind, after finally letting Chad go…

* * *

At Mute City, Mother Brain had just easily grabbed a nearby towering building, and pushed it down, making it collapse as it fell, crushing countless vehicles and people, around it, was mostly rubble already. By the looks of it, it hadn't got far, due to the rest of city looked intact…the GF force were busy getting everyone safely out of the city, when Chad, Ryu, Quickman, Shademan and Samus had arrived in a street near where Mother Brain was…who was only a few roads away, thankfully looking in the opposite direction.

Chad was horrified at the mess already caused. "No….Look at this place!"

Shademan looked around. "Seems like it's really pissed off…maybe we should be extra careful and call in a little more support."

That's when Mother Brain turned around, spotting them standing there. They noticed something different about it right away, it single eye was completely black, without a pupil. It snarled at them, knowing who they were. "Little bugs, so, you have come to die!"

Mother Brain was the one eyed big red spiky brained freak from Planet Zebes. The thing is, this Mother Brain is a copy of the original. Samus Aran destroyed the original a good 2 years ago. This copy was made by the GF in order to control their defence turrets across the empire…but it soon chose to ignore orders, and was shut off before it could even turn on them, as it had planned. Dr Light bought it off the GF for a small price, and had it stored away in one of the spare supply rooms until the docs had time to fiddle around with it.

Soon, Samus told the docs about the original mother brain having a cyborg body, that was destroyed…thanks to Samus remembering it well, and reading the space pirate files, they were able to make a copy of that, so that eventually, they could turn Mother Brain into their own personal defence unit.

That cyborg body idea of Samus's must be pissing off her right about now, since this is the result of granting the thing that.

Knuckles was the first to point out the obvious. "That certainly isn't right, look at it's eye…maybe it's being controlled by something!"

As soon as Mother Brain made one step towards them…which was a huge step in their point of view, Chad got his Blade of Darkness ready, and turned into his red hedgehog form. "Let's do this!"

Samus prepared her missiles, Shademan was ready with his claws, Quickman had got a high cannon out and ready, and Knuckles was ready with his fists…Mother Brain made the first move, by firing, from her mouth, several large neon blue energy rings, flying at the team.

Chad had quickly sped away from the road, avoiding the energy attack, into an alleyway between two tall buildings, and quickly begun to jump from one wall to another, slowly going to the top of one of them. Samus had leapt backwards to avoid one energy ring that nearly hit, and unleashed a few basic missiles to counter, which all hit the main eye of Mother Brain, making it scream in pain. Knuckles had avoided the energy rings, and jumped towards a wall of a building, using the pointed, sharpened knuckles on his gloves to dig into the stone wall, and begun to quickly climb it, making new small holes with each move, making sure he avoided windows in the process.

Shademan had been able to change his arms into their bat wing state, and used them as a shield to stop the energy rings…which it did with ease, before turning his arms back to normal, and forming the high cannon, firing it at the torso of Mother Brain's cyborg body, at the same time Quickman did, after he used his speed to easily avoid the attack. The energy shots though, done nothing to the torso or Mother Brain, not even phasing it after it had recovered from Samus's attack.

Chad had arrived on one of the rooftops, to find Mother Brain already spotting him, as he looked to where it was. He fired his Chaos energy beam at it, which just hit the arm that it rose to protect it's eye from the attack, before fighting back with the energy rings from it's mouth at him, and he quickly form a barrier from the battle chips, as the dozen or so energy rings hit the rooftop, and around Chad, thanks to the barrier. "Nice try MB!…uh oh."

The "uh oh" was due to Mother Brain noticing him still being alive, and raising it's arm, ready to crush the entire rooftop, along with him.

But that was put to a stop, thanks to Samus using her suit's space jumping ability to leap up to the rooftop where Chad was, and quickly firing a much more powerful super missile into Mother Brain's eye, making it screech again and cover it's eye with it's hands.

Samus smirked, then looked at Chad. "It's a rather obvious weak spot, isn't it?"

"Shame it doesn't kill it!" Chad responded, pointing at Mother Brain, who had recovered already, and got ready to crush the roof again.

"BOOT TO THE HEAD!" Suddenly, leaping from another rooftop, and making his foot connect to the left side of Mother Brain's face, making her head turn from the force of the blow, was Knuckles. He soon, leapt away, and landing on the same rooftop as Samus and Chad, as Shademan and Quickman both take this chance to use program advance, and create zeta cannons, firing the huge cannon shots at Mother Brain's torso. The attacks hit dead on, as she just begun to recover from Knuckles attack, and push her back a few steps.

Mother Brain hadn't been beaten though, as she looked at the rooftop with Chad, Knuckles and Samus, and this time, fired the energy rings, at least several dozen. at the actual building. This was enough to damage one side of the structure, and making it begin to collapse. Samus had jumped to a nearby rooftop, as did Knuckles, but as Chad was about to try, the floor under him shook abruptly, making him stumble as he was about to jump, and fall to the floor…and begin to slide down, towards the side which was now showing the ground, as the building started to fall down.

But he wouldn't be going with it, as something blue had shot by…and he suddenly being grabbed by his spare hand, and flying off the building…the blue object, as he could see, had fallen off the breaking rooftop, and pummelled to the ground, exploding on impact. He knew what it was though…it was the Blue Falcon, with the cockpit open, meaning the driver…then, Chad had landed on another building, that was across the road to the one he was just on, and the person let go, and landed in front of him, with his back turned, before spinning round, looking at Chad, doing his normal salute…Captain Falcon.

Captain Falcon of Port Nova II is a champion of the famous F-Zero racing, and a bounty hunter, who mainly goes for jobs that include evil villains. He is known for visiting the hero base often, but wasn't a person who stayed longer then a day. He was always on the move, and had always made it to any F-Zero race that included him, not missing one of them. He was visiting Mute City for a race, when Mother Brain attacked, and saw Chad and the others start fighting when he was trying to get through the GF and people who were fleeing in order to help out, which he had just done, in the nick of time….with style.

"Hey Falcon, Glad you were around. Thanks for the rescue."

Captain Falcon smiled. "No problem Chad! I thought you hero guys wouldn't bother showing up! What took you so long to get here?"

"Well, the bitch machine that we're fighting didn't exactly want to be found right away…". Chad then looked over to where Mother Brain was…Samus had just been swiped away as she tried to fire another missile from the rooftop of the building her and knuckles had made it on, and Knuckles had avoided the blow, by jumping into the air and gliding towards Mother Brain, and punched Mother Brain in the head, which pushed it back slightly, but as he leaped away, it swiped at him, and knocked him through a building with it's hand.

Quickman had ran towards Mother Brain, and fired his quick boomerang, aiming it towards it's eye…it easily swiped the golden shape boomerang away, but that was just a diversion, as Shademan had flown up right at it's face, deadly close to it's eye, raised his claws on one arm…and gashed the eye with three cuts, making black bile flow out, as Mother Brain covered it's wounded eye, trying to stop the bleeding.

Samus saw this as a chance to finish Mother Brain, thanks to her being blind. She had landed on the ground, and begun to run towards where Mother Brain was…as she ran, energy begun to build up around her, as she went into super speed, and she jumped as she got close to the huge creature…it was the perfect time, as Mother Brain had finally moved her hands away for that moment…Samus, without a care, tore right through the wounded eye, covered in the energy that had come from her suit, through the back of it, and out, of the back of Mother Brain's head, leaving a human sized hole in her wake, black bile flying everywhere…Mother Brain stood there, before falling backwards, and hitting the floor, dead.

Samus landed nearby the remains, and looked at them, smiling in her helmet. "That's one point up to me on the kill board."

Captain Falcon seemed relieved it was over before he had to do anything serious. "Well, glad that's that. All I had to do was save you kid. Now, I'll just get my blue falcon and be on my way."

Chad looked at him, then motioned at the smoke that was flowing from the ground, going up into the night sky. "It's there if you want it."

Captain Falcon was about to thank Chad…But it dawned on him what Chad was saying. "Oh…You, don't think the docs at the base would mind if they could pay for a new one, ya know, for saving you and joining in this fray?"

"I'll put in a good word for you Cap."

Soon, they had gathered around Mother Brain's remains, and tried to figure out what made her do this…the answer didn't take long to appear, as Knuckles had looked around the head of Mother Brain, and at the very top of it, on the red flesh of the brain, was the black control chip, embedded into it.

"Hey guys! I found something!" Knuckles ripped the control chip out, and met the others near the body of the being. He showed it to them.

"Ugh gross, it's still got a little bit of the flesh on." Captain Falcon pointed out.

"What is it?" Quickman asked them.

Shademan looked at it carefully, and knew what it was after a moment. "A control chip…"

Chad looked at him. "Controls things right? How the heck did Darkmega and Richard get their hands on it?"

Shademan thought about this. "It's not in production, but Dr Wily created prototypes of it before, probably Hub knew of the blueprints and prototypes, and what Hub knows, Darkmega knows. I remember hearing about them from Regal. Suppose to have been used on humans, and in a mild way, not forcefully and utterly control them. Keep stubborn bastards in line and such. But it seems Darkmega and somehow edited them to work on more then that."

"Hmm…well, the docs might want to take a look at it." Chad said to them…speaking of the docs, they had just contacted Chad on his com-link. He opened it, to hear Dr Light's voice….seems like things were going to get worse, as Laserman was found in the Wily Fortress, which was on Earth X, which was Wily's….13th fortress to date. Laserman had taken it over, and had activated it's defences.

Chad and the others didn't need to think about anything, after asking Captain Falcon to come along, they got the docs to teleport them near the fortress in order to confront the controlled Laserman…

* * *

On Gaia VII, Keaton was once again in the Shinra Building…he was at his desk, looking at his computer…E-mails of reports from Mute City kept coming through about Mother Brain, first, her attack, then the heroes arrival, then about her death and the damage that was left behind as the heroes teleported away.

Keaton wasn't impressed with them. They had allowed the thing to cause a fair amount of damage, meaning he would have to pay for the loss of lives and repairs BEFORE they pay him…and the chances are, the docs will try to con their way out of paying him even a speck of gil.

Then Master Chief walked in, and went up to the front of the desk, looking at Keaton after saluting him. "You wanted to see me sir?"

Keaton looked up at him, and nodded, before standing up. "Yes Chief. I want you to inform everyone in the GF to be on top alert for a dark version of the Net Navi Megaman called Darkmega. Tell the forces on both fronts against the United Federation and Galactic Empire to hold fire untill this problem is cleared up."

"Sir, we had only just begun to gain the upper hand for the border of the Galactic Empire. Two of their space stations had been taken over seven days ago, and Barrel is planning a breakthrough assault on their defences. We shouldn't stop everything for something so small."

"That doesn't matter, we need to focus on one thing at a time, first this Darkmega problem, as he seems to want to build his own empire, as Robotnik and my, other sources informed me, then the two rival empires can be dealt with."

Master Chief went quiet for a moment, before saluting again. "Yes sir, Cortana and myself will get right on it."

* * *

When Chad, Knuckles, Shademan, Quickman, Samus and Captain Falcon arrived just outside the Wily Fortress on Earth X, They found it…pretty well guarded…by the simple fact that every single robot master was seen just coming out of the place…it was an expected welcome.

The thirteenth Wily Fortress was a remake of the very first Fortress, just designed inside to be more for luxury then world domination, unlike all the previous ones…still, Wily couldn't resist on adding a few traps here and there. Inside it as well, was a machine that could recreate the robot masters, in case they were needed for defensive purposes.

Chad didn't mind much…heck, Wily let him fight the Robot masters before for training, so this wasn't gonna be bad for him. The others didn't seem to have much trouble either, as soon as the robot masters showed they were hostile. Quickman had easily smashed up Heatman, Iceman and Gutsman with a cyber sword, and had used area steal battle chip, to quickly move behind the robot master Quickman, and hack his head off.

Shademan just kept using his claws to hack anything that was machine, and Samus was letting rip with her missiles, not fully focusing on the amount of targets coming at them…which got Knuckles a little worried, as he was near her, breaking apart the likes of Centaurman and robot master Shademan, two that she failed to notice.

Turboman had just been blasted to pieces by Captain Falcon and his trademark falcon punch, and Chad has just hacked Elecman in half with the Blade of Darkness, before firing a Chaos energy beam at Stoneman, who was coming up behind him…and now who had a massive hole in his stomach, as he fell to the floor. Chad looked around afterwards, and saw the robot masters were easily wiped out…they were just cheap editions, designed to be nothing but cannon fodder.

He soon noticed the lack in cannons coming out of the fortress walls to fire at them. Wily told him about new defences being added, and they were supposed to have been activated by Laserman, yet, nothing had come out. "Hmm…odd."

Captain Falcon looked at him. "What's odd? The fact we won easily?"

Chad shook his head. "No. Wily said about the defences being activated. But all we had are the robot masters. There should be a swarm of cannons coming out of the walls and filling us with holes."

Knuckles then turned to Chad. "…So? That just makes things easier for us! Lets get inside and deal with Laserman!"

Shame that weren't happening so soon, as another bunch of the Robot masters marched out to greet them…then another bunch…and another…it wasn't the fact that they were any danger to them, it was the fact that Chad and the others were being slowed down by endless fodder, as they wouldn't stop. Those robot building machines must be going nuts.

Samus had ran out of missiles, much to her anger, and begun to just blast the robots with energy shots, like she just did with a copy of Needleman. She looked at Chad, as he took down two iceman's in one swing of his sword. "Chad! I don't think we'll be progressing anytime soon! I can see a lot more coming out of the fortress! We're pinned down!"

Knuckles just had socked the head off a Junkman, and then punched a hole in the stomach of a Hardman. "We should tell the docs to send others near the fortress to get inside and handle Laserman! We're gonna be down and out by the time he stops sending these at us!" He yelled.

Chad nodded, and after kicking away a Quickman, before slashing a Napalmman in half, he quickly uses his com-link to call the docs.

It was a good idea, as Laserman, who was inside the main room of the fortress, which was designed to be as large as the base one, was watching Chad and the others fight the endless hordes of robot masters on a computer screen. The Control chip could plainly be seen on the top of his head.

Laserman is the former Net Navi of Dr Regal Wily. His cruel, sarcastic and gives a lot of people the cold shoulder when they talk to him. He is one of the few Net Navi who do not have the life program installed into them, due to the fact he has no real mouth, or nose, or even eyes, thus he wouldn't be able to survive by eating or drinking, or even breathing.

He is now, as they call those that have no longer an owner, a Freelancer Navi. Those who have no humans in which to control them if need be. Those with human control are called PET Navi's. Laserman was allowed to become a Freelancer when he felt no need to follow Regal anymore when the base was created. He keeps the old PET he once lived in as a reminder of his past, serving Regal.

Laserman is a known wait-for-the-right-moment fighter. He can easily take a lot of hits from enemies, before countering with one of his laser-like attacks, which are known to do tons of damage, and in one fight with the hardened Navi Gutsman, he nearly killed with one attack. The only types he has trouble with, are speedy people, who can easily dodge his attacks if he fails to aim well and surprise them with the sudden counter.

As he watched Chad and the others, he failed to notice the arrival of back up, as they had appeared right close to the fortress walls. It was Zhao Yun, Sam Stone from Earth II, and the robot created by Wily, Forte, of Earth X.

Zhao Yun aka the dragon of Chang Shan aka the poster boy of the great Shu kingdom. He can wield a spear and melt girls hearts without even realising he was doing it…while killing hordes of enemies…back in those days. Now he faces off the odd enemy now and then, otherwise, he just chills out at the base, keeping contact with the watcher of the Shu kingdom on earth V, Liu Bei's son, Liu Chan. (which he keeps claiming was just an accident…he even said it to his son, and made him cry…he never regretted it.).

Sam 'Serious' Stone, or as he preferred, Serious Sam, was a merc for hire on Earth II who was able to survive the most ridiculous of odds. He was known especially when a part of the space pirate forces decided to lead an invasion against that earth…for a sum of 300,000 gil, he not only single-handedly took out over 5,000 pirates, but managed to destroy all of their vessels, within a day. Some sources claim it was a few weeks, whatever the case, he still defeated theme, and It can't be denied that his swift with guns.

Forte is a robot master created by Albert Wily, designed to be the rival to Rock, a robot created by Dr Light to stop Wily and his mad schemes back then. Now he just acts as a law enforcer in the base, making sure no trouble is caused…a job that he fails badly at, since he doesn't care if there's trouble at all, but Wily and Light don't mind, as long as he stops trying to pick fights with Rock 24/7.

Zhao Yun got all three of them to hide near the wall of the fortress, as another batch of robot masters run out the main entrance, going to Chad and co. "Alright, we need to charge in, take out any enemies in our way, and defeat Laserman!"

Sam looked at him, then at the entrance, as yet another batch of robot masters run out. "Yeah…not gonna lie to you fella, but I doubt my pair of energy blasting Uzis are gonna get us through that lot."

Forte started to walk away from them, and heading round the back of the fortress. Zhao Yun and Sam notice, and quickly follow.

"Forte! Where are you going!? We need to commence the attack!" Zhao Yun said, once he caught up.

"I'm getting us in a simpler way then the suicide charge that you suggested." He replied, as he stopped next to a wall, with no sign of an entrance.

Sam looked at the wall carefully, then looked at Forte. "You're drugged up, aren't you? See, I knew robots could get high, no matter what people say about them lacking the parts."

Forte sighed at him, then began to feel the wall a little. Zhao Yun looked at what Forte was doing, then at Sam, who shrugged, then used the gesture to suggest Forte was a bit cuckoo in the head. They then notice Forte knocking on the wall, then suddenly, forming his arm cannon, and firing at it, making a nice large hole.

Zhao Yun gave him a smile. "Ah! I see! There was a weak point in the structure that you remembered about!"

Forte shook his head, as they went inside. "Nah. I just couldn't be bothered to look for the proper back entrance anymore."

All three soon begun to run through the corridors of the Wily fortress and, after a good few minutes, found themselves inside the main room, where Laserman was still busy watching a computer screen…before he turned around, finally realising that there was more then just one person in the room. "Humph. Seems the doctors decided to call for backup."

Zhao Yun readied his spear. "Laserman! Cease your actions, or I will be forced to stop you!"

Sam sighed, shaking his head, looking at Zhao Yun, after pulling out two Uzis that were attached around his waist. "Really? You think his just gonna stop?"

Laserman stood there, staring at them…before using area steal, and appearing in front of Zhao Yun, who quickly moved back a step, and swung his spear at Laserman, only for it to be blocked by a cyber sword. Forte took this moment and fired a few energy shots at Laserman, they hit, but they didn't even bother him or move him.

Laserman then blocked another attack from Zhao Yun's spear, before using his spare fist to punch him away. Serious Sam fired his guns, spraying energy shots all over the tall Net Navi, who didn't even seem to notice, as he stopped Zhao Yun again, who had charged, and kicked him back. Sam looked at his prized beauties, and knew he had to try something else, putting both guns away. Laserman had just got a mega cannon battle chip activated and shot Forte into a wall, When Sam screamed "DROP IT!" and made Laserman turn and look at him, just as the sunglasses wearing guy dropkicked right into Lasermans chest, with such a force that it sent the Navi flying back and smacking into a wall himself.

"THAT'S how you take down enemy officers!" Sam said in a smug tone, as he got himself up off the floor. He had said it to annoy Zhao Yun, who was frowning. The people of Earth V were prone to say such things after someone has been beaten…unlucky for them, Laserman had got himself off the wall, looking at them again. "Oh come on! I just dropkicked you! Can't you have the courtesy to stay down!?"

Laserman fired a few laser beams from his hands at them. Forte had dodged the ones coming at him, and charged up an energy shot, before firing it, and hitting Laserman in the head, making him a little dazed from the attack, but not for long. Sam just kept leaping around to around the lasers, and Zhao Yun readied his spear, as he dodged a few of them himself. "Laserman! I shall defeat you!". A green aura begun to flow around Zhao Yun, then, he bellowed out, as he charged forward, "MUSOU!"

Laserman quickly formed a Vulcan cannon on one of his hands, and fired it at Zhao Yun, dozens of energy bullets flying at him, as he ran at the ex-Wily Navi. Zhao Yun spun his spear around in front of him at blinding speed, deflecting the energy bullets, some of them hitting back at Laserman.

When Zhao Yun finally got close, he leapt up into the air, the green aura around him glowing brightly, and was about to simply plunge his spear into Laserman's head, when he noticed the control chip on top of the Navi's head. He had duelled the Navi before, and knew THAT wasn't there before. He flew back down, and as he was about to land, he threw his spear at Laserman…and the spear just, JUST hit the control chip, and stabbed into it, before pulling it out, and flying into the wall, the spear head now embedded into the wall, with the chip, now crushed, at the tip of it.

Zhao Yun was panting a little, as his green aura faded away, and Laserman just stood there…before weakly saying, in a confused tone, "Where…am I…whats…" He slowly fell backwards, and hit the floor with a huge thud.

"Damnit Zhao Yun. We're supposed to be helping these people, NOT kill them." Sam pointed out.

"I have not killed him. I believe he is knocked out from being controlled. I noticed a device on top of his head, and destroyed it." Zhao Yun said, as he looked at Laserman. "Forte, I suggest you disable the Robot Master creating machines so Chad and our allies know that we have regained this fortress."

Forte nodded. And soon, After the machines were shut off, and Chad and the others had all destroyed the last of the robot masters, they all met inside the main room of the Wily fortress. Zhao Yun explained what happened on their end of it, after pulling his spear out of the wall, and collecting the little remains of the control chip that was on Laserman.

"Here, this is what is left of the odd small device.". Zhao Yun showed it to Chad and the others, motioned as well as to where it was on Laserman.

"Looks like another control chip. We got one off Mother Brain after kicking her ass." Chad said, before showing Zhao Yun the control chip they got…it still had the dead flesh on, and was starting to smell a little. "We should head back together, and take these to Dr Light and Wily…and also get Laserman in the hospital, so he can recover."

He heard a beeping sound, and it was coming off his com-link in his pocket. He got it out and opened it. "Yo."

It was Dr Light. "Chad, How is it going, have you dealt with Laserman?"

"Yep, all taken care off."

"Good. Well, We found another three of them. It's Sonic, Mario and Jak. They're working together in the ACDC network, My sons hometown network. They seem to be causing damage to data there. Return to the base and use the pulse transmission devices to get yourselves in the net, and stop them."

Chad sighed, so much for a quick break. "On it doc. We'll get back now." He put the com-link away. "Did you guys hear him?"

"Loud and clear." Sam replied.

"Well, we should all go together. Nine is better then six."

Captain Falcon interrupted. "Hey…look…I gotta get back to mute city. It's great helping you guys, but after those robots, I think I've had my fill on fighting…sorry for being a killjoy and all, but I'm sure you guys can handle three people, right?"

Chad sighed in annoyance. "Alright alright. Eight on three is still good….unless anyone else wants to back out?". He knew that no one else will support them from the base unless they can be motivated to help, so whatever team he has now, is what they got.

Everyone else shook their heads. Chad thanked whatever gods were watching over them, and soon, they all teleported away, and returned to the Hero base, taking Laserman with them.

…When they left, Sephiroth and Phantom suddenly appeared in the Fortress, with Sephiroth looking towards where the others were. "Two down already…another six to go. It seems Chaos and Darkmega are allowing their slaves to be beaten…to lure Chad into a trap."

Phantom also looked over where the Heroes were. "Bah. That Chad hasn't personally slain either of the previous minions. I'm beginning to doubt that his the descendent of him…he used to slay every foe that he came across himself, never once dared to allow others the finishing blow if he could."

"Every foe Phantom? No…not even he killed all his enemies, his allies had a role to play, like Chad's. We shall continue to watch, as the old man hasn't made any moves yet…". The old man was Zuo Ci, his rival. They had clashed hundreds of times over the time of the universe, with either one or the other the victor. If one wins one fight, then they know the next fight, they will lose. It has always been like that between them, neither have truly proved which is the greater deity.

Phantom grunted a little, as he looked around the room. "Why should we wait for him and Griffon to make any moves? I personally want to test this boy to see if his really made of the same stuff as his ancestor."

Sephiroth looked at his summon. "If you wish to, but your actions will be your own. If Griffon or Zuo Ci try to hinder your path, I shall not support you."

* * *

When Chad and the others returned to the base, Sam, with the help of Forte and Captain Falcon, got Laserman into the hospital to recover, before Captain Falcon said his farewells, and left.

Dr Light was waiting for them in the labs, with Dr Wily, Liu Bei, Pang Tong, Roll and Anna. When Chad and that arrived there, they showed Dr Light and Wily the control chips.

"Then all we need to do is deal with the chips, and everything will be back to normal. that's what you need to do with your next three enemies, Sonic, Mario and Jak. Get those chips off and make them…hopefully, sane again." Dr Wily said, whilst looking at the computer of the labs.

"Albert is preparing the pulse machines for all eight of you. They should be set within a few minutes." Dr Light added.

Anna walked over to Chad, while Roll just stood there, watching him from afar to see if his okay. "Chad…just be careful. I don't want you pushing yourself too hard. Let the others fight and you come back if it gets too much." Anna said to him.

"I'll be fine Anna. I'm still full of juice." he replied to her. Roll was about to say something, when Dr Wily beat her to it.

"Chad, it's all ready, you can get going now. Sooner the better."

"Got it. Well see ya Anna, Roll." Chad then went into the room connected to the labs, with Zhao Yun, Quickman, Sam, Forte, Knuckles, Shademan and Samus.

Roll watched them leave the lab, then, she quietly said to herself. "Just keep yourself alive Chad…don't overdo it…"

Soon, Chad and the others, with Samus taking her helmet off and putting down nearby, sat down in these huge metal chairs, with large dome helmets above them, and hundreds of wires going into both the chair and helmet…these were the pulse machines, designed to transmit the brain waves of a non-Navi into the cyber world. Shademan and Quickman simply went to a computer nearby the machines, and transferred themselves into the network.

It works on all kinds of races, including machines as well. It was so that the races of the Galactic Federation could explore the world that Navi's felt they were once confined in. it's very useful to edit data on computers that are connected to the networks. There are dangers to using the machine mind. One serious danger is that if your on the net, and your network aka the one where the pulse chair is, is disconnected from the network your actually in, you're dead. As your brain waves would have actually been severed from the main body, killing it and yourself. The effect on yourself, your image on the net is varied, some have reported the host's image simply dissolves away, sometimes screaming in pure terror and pain, others silently and quickly. Other times the image becomes a ghost, recorded and saved in the network, often just repeating itself and wandering aimlessly, signalising it's brain dead state. Robots are immune to this fatal danger, as their minds have back ups at the ready, so if they were disconnected, they would simply use back up data to stay active.

Soon, their brain waves were sent to the net, and they arrived at their destination right away, hence why it took Albert a little while to get it ready. They all had their gear on, as it was digitally transmitted. Samus even had her full armour on, including the helmet. All eight of them looked around the blue area, which had white panel flooring…and they saw Sonic, Mario and Jak dead ahead, all attacking bits of data flying around…important data at that, for the hometown, for all Chad and the others knew, things could be blowing up in the real world in that town right now if they don't stop this.

Chad looked at Sonic, and smirked, as he changed into his Mobian red hedgehog form. "Alright guys, Sonic is mine!"

Zhao Yun was about to tell Chad to wait, but Chad had sped off right to where Sonic is, appearing in front of him, just before he attacked another bit of data. Sonic was a little surprised…he had the chip attached to his head. "Chad. What are you doing here? Gonna try and stop me?"

"Nah….I'm just here to prove whose faster by leaving you in the dust!" Chad turned away from Sonic, and ran off into another part of ACDC network…Sonic looked stunned…before looking pissed off, clenching his fist.

Fact was, Chad was a common hedgehog Mobian. And yet he seemed to have gifted speed like Sonic. Normal mind state Sonic always sees this as a friendly racing rivalry. The mind controlled Sonic? An insult.

"OH he did NOT just do that!" Sonic shot off after him.

Soon, he caught up with Chad, as they were rushing around the net, and then, they were side by side, keeping with each others pace. Chad looked at Sonic and smiled. "Hey! Not bad! I thought you were gonna give up before even trying!" Then, he gave Sonic a serious look. "Now lets see if you can fight while running at this pace!"

He quickly elbowed Sonic, making him slow down…before Sonic rushed back up to his pace, and rammed into Chad, knocking him, and make him lose speed…he also came back up within moments, and it kept going like this, as they rushed on, and Chad was loving every moment of it.

But soon, it got real serious, as Chad knocked Sonic once again, Sonic simply rolled into a ball, and spun towards Chad's legs. Chad just jumped the attack, and came to a stop in one of the ACDC areas. He saw Sonic continued his spinning rampage, as he turned around, and spun back towards Chad. The red hedgehog quickly fired a chaos control beam, and it hit Sonic just before he reached Chad, making him fly back and hit the ground. He quickly got up, snarling in anger, showing the beam didn't do much.

Chad rushed forward, and kicked Sonic in the face, pushing him back a little. In response, Sonic ran at him and delivered a punch right in the nose, knocking Chad back. Chad was recovering from the blow, looking in a little agony as he rubbed his nose, when Sonic came again, and kicked him in the stomach, using it as a jump point, he pushed on where his foot was on Chad, leapt backwards into the air…and rolled into a ball, and done his homing attack, flying right back at Chad as he was now recovering from the previous attack, and rammed into him, sending him crashing to the floor, as Sonic shot by, rolled across the ground, and stood up, turning around to where Chad is on the floor, and smiling. "Guess I'm a little too fast for ya Chad!"

Chad groaned a little. "Uhh…that…hurt more then I thought it would…" He just laid there, acting all tired, as Sonic walked up to him, and looked down at his face, bending his head down…clearly showing the chip, which was right on the top of his forehead.

"Aww, that's it Chad? Already beaten?" Sonic said in a smug tone….it was short lived, as Chad suddenly raised his hand, and fires a very small beam of chaos control energy at the control chip, destroying it. Sonic stood there…stunned, then confused at Chad, then finally, as Chad quickly moved out of the way, Sonic hit the floor, out for the count.

Chad got up, and smiled at where Sonic was. "Nah, I was just waiting for the perfect moment. Maybe next time Darkmega won't put those control chips in obvious spots."

Meanwhile, Mario hit the floor, his hat was nearby on the ground, and the control chip that was imbedded into his head was on the floor nearby as well, broken. Forte lowered his arm buster. He got a direct hit on the chip. Jak was freed from the control chip was well, thanks to Shademan clawing it, as it was on his arm. He was out for the count as well.

Zhao Yun looked at Quickman, Sam, Shademan, Forte, Knuckles and Samus. "Once again, victory is ours!"

"Not completely. Chad hasn't come back yet, he might of not defeated the blue hedgehog." Samus pointed out.

That's when Chad returned, in his hedgehog form still, carrying Sonic. "Hey Guys. Did I miss anything?"

Quickman smiled at his OP. "Nah Chad. Mario and Jak were quite easy to handle. We got the chips off them. By the looks of it, you sorted Sonic out."

"Yeah, had a little bit of trouble, but it wasn't anything I couldn't handle. Let's call the docs, maybe they'll be able to trace where their actual bodies are currently." Chad said, before putting sonic on the floor.

They managed to get in contact with Dr Light, and after several minutes, He and Albert managed to find out where their signal, aka their net images, were coming from. To Wily's annoyance, it was from his fortress.

Albert said about activating an override protocol, which made the images of Sonic, Mario and Jak each change into the words 'LOGGED OUT' in teal colouring, before dispersing, meaning they were disconnected at the source. With that, another victory, Chad and the others were ready to disconnect, and by saying the command "Network, Log out." for Sam, Samus, Zhao Yun, Knuckles, while Forte, Shademan and Quickman had to all merely think it, they were all logged out of the net, bar Chad.

"Network, Log out." He said, like the others, and closed his eyes, waiting for the feeling of being pulled backwards, like he always experiences during the log out…Nothing happened.

"….O….kay…I'm sure Dr Light knows I'm here.." Chad gets on the com-link, and tries to call Dr Light. But, the com-link doesn't appear to be working at all… Chad was a little alert now, something wasn't letting him leave.

Something had suddenly made Chad get his sword out and turn around to look behind him, The sound of something large moving…and it was large alright, as he saw…it was the summon, Phantom, it was slowly moving towards him, it's claws at the end of it's limbs stabbing into the network tiles as it moved closer and closer, and Chad begun to back away a little, his sword at the ready. He could feel the intense heat coming off Phantom.

Phantom looked at Chad carefully, and stopped moving towards him. "Ha, you're a lot smaller then what I really thought you were. Disappointing…this could just be a waste of time."

"Okay, I've never seen a virus like you before…I take it you're a new edition?".

"Boy, I am no virus…I am the great and mighty Phantom! I will be the very thing that will end your worthless life!" Phantom raised one of his front claws, and Chad quickly fires a chaos beam at Phantom's head, knowing the spider…thing, was not gonna be very chatty at this point. His beam down jack shit to the summon, as it's claws came down at Chad, and he had to quickly jump away, firing another chaos beam at Phantom's head, doing nothing at all to him.

Phantom opened his lava mouth towards Chad, and Chad quickly rolled to the left, as a huge fireball shot out of the summons mouth. Chad felt this would be a chance, and ran at Phantom, and before the creature could close it's mouth, he stabbed the blade of darkness in it…Phantom stood there, with his mouth open, with the sword inside it…and suddenly closed his mouth, nearly on Chad's hands, if he didn't let go of the blade of darkness, and let it get swallowed up, much to his horror. "Oh no fucking way! That was a direct hit!"

Phantom chuckled, as the blade of darkness went into the centre of his insides…although it did simply vanish, due to the fact it was just a data copy one for the net, much to his annoyance, but at least Chad's lost it. Chad tried to use a hi-cannon, followed by a super Vulcan, and finally a few mini bombs on Phantom…and none of them effected him, as he fired fireballs at Chad, all of them missing thanks to Chad's speed, but he knew this fight was against him. It looked like a stand off for now, but with nothing of Chad's doing any harm, Phantom could eventually overpower him.

Phantom charged forward, and tried to swipe at Chad with one of his front claws. Chad quickly dodged the attack, and tried program advance, combining three hi cannons together, forming the zeta cannon, and fires it at the fire being…it still done nothing, it simply hit, and Phantom was running at him while it was, not being effected, raised his claw, and swiped Chad, knocking him flying to the floor, disabling the zeta cannon.

Chad started to get up, but a fireball had hit him, engulfing him in it's explosion, before he found himself back on the ground, in pain, the attack had brunt a little of his clothing. Phantom was beginning to move in to finish Chad off, when Chad had suddenly vanished, in his place momentarily, the words 'LOGGED OUT'.

"What the!? But I blocked those fools in that base from being able to…wait…" Then, he knew who made that possible. He heard the flap of wings behind him, and landing nearby, was Zuo Ci's summon, the large demonic bird, Griffon.

Phantom snarled a little, turning around towards Griffon. "Griffon…well, I had expected either you or Zuo Ci to arrive sooner or later…"

Griffon looked at the rival summon in anger. "Phantom! How dare you attack a member of the destined blood! You know the gods have ideas for them!"

"Forget the gods! Lets just cut to the chase and see which summon is superior Griffon, you know that words are never important to me!"

Griffon growled. "Very well Phantom, once again, I cannot promise you will survive this fight!"

"As you always say."

* * *

Chad now found himself on a soft bed, with his eyes shut, and hearing Medi's voice nearby, as well as Anna's voice, Quickman's, and Dr Light's. He felt like he had just been in a bad dream for a moment, fighting that spider thing, before suddenly waking up to reality…with the pain of what that thing caused coming with him.

He heard Medi say something. "His alright, just, I think, when his pulse and mind came back to his body, he may had just fainted in the process. It can happen now and then."

Dr Light responded. "Alright Medi, just keep him safe and sound then. I'll send some of the others to deal with Sima Yi. His been found in the Mushroom Kingdom, near Princess Peach's castle."

Chad relaxed a little, keeping his eyes closed, a little rest wouldn't hurt him, and there were plenty of people here that can do some fighting instead of him. What Dr Light says, goes.

Anna sat down near Chad's bed. "I'll stay here and keep an eye on him too."

Chad was content with that, and just laid there, as he heard Dr Light leave, and begun to think about Phantom…why did it attack? It claimed it wasn't a virus, and hell, there isn't a virus in the net that talks. Maybe it was a minion to Darkmega, or someone else….one person came into mind, but he quickly left that idea alone. Chaos hasn't been doing anything in ages. His sworn enemy surely wouldn't get active just because of Darkmega's actions.

* * *

In the main room, Dr Light formed a new team together. It was Zhang Fei, Xiahou Yuan, Link and Charlie.

Link is the well known hero of Hyrule on the planet Hyrule. The planet's name was done by the GF, as the Hylians refused to be put with a number e.g alpha II or something. They wanted to keep a unique name….the GF couldn't be bothered to think one up that wasn't on the planet itself. Link had defeated many evils on it, and gained great fame. Right now, peace had reigned over the planet since the arrival of the GF, and Link chose to come here with Princess Zelda.

Xiahou Yuan of Earth V was a warrior of the Kingdom Wei and a cousin to Cao Cao. His one of the few that actually pronounce his cousin's name wrong. Some of the people on Earth V say Cao Cao's name as 'Cow Cow', not how it should be, which is 'Sao Sao'. Calling Cao Cao the Cow one often annoys him to no end, and leads him to heavily dislike them for a very long time. Xiahou Yuan is an exception…Cao Cao just claims his been hit too many times over the head.

Xiahou Yuan is an expert marksman with a bow, and often uses his battering rod to deal with close range opponents. His rather a nice person outside fights, and often gets along with people quite well, even those in opposing kingdoms from their planet.

Dr Light smiled at them. "I'm sure you four will be more then enough to deal with Sima Yi, just remember to target a black device on him called a control chip, don't kill the poor man."

Zhang Fei smiled. "Hey! Relax doc! We'll only kill him if it's by accident! And with me, accidents happen alot!"

Charlie, Dr Light, Xiahou Yuan and Link all seemed to just stare at Zhang Fei, who had this cheery grin on his face after that statement. "That's…very encouraging, Zhang Fei…Well now, good luck to you all!" was all the doctor could say to that.

The four soon got teleported away, and Dr light stood there, thinking to himself, when Dr Wily walked in from the labs. "Thomas. I think something isn't right…"

"Hmm? What? After when we lost contact with Chad for a moment?

"It's the entire tactic of Darkmega's. His attacked Mute City, My fortress, ACDC network and now Princess Peach's castle…it's just not adding up."

Dr Light looked confused for a moment, then shrugged. "Maybe Darkmega is just insane."

A new voice spoke up. "Or perhaps, the attacks are not his main focus." Walking into the room, carrying his famous feather fan, was Zhuge Liang of Earth V. "Forgive the intrusion, but I had overheard from Zhao Yun what was going on."

Zhuge Liang is a loyal retainer of the kingdom Shu. His hated by many from opposing kingdoms on that planet for simply being more of a smartass then them. His known for his pre-planned strategies and quick counter plans that simply break any armies morale that challenges him. He has a calm yet commanding aura around him, and never, ever leaves his white feathered fan anywhere, always keeping it with him, with it's teal coloured jewel in the hilt glinting now and then as the lights of the rooms catch it.

Dr Light looked at him. "Pardon?"

Zhuge Liang walked over to them, waving his fan back and forth a little on himself. "As Albert Wily pointed out, the attacks are flawed. If Darkmega succeeded in taking and destroying those areas, it would not be a victory or an advantage. ACDC is a small town, hardly worth taking over. Albert's Fortress is heavily defended, but it does not hold anything else then an army of robots which are weak cannon fodder, lacking real intelligence…no offence, Albert Wily. And the destruction of Mute City would only cause an effect in the trades around that sector of space, nothing else. If they take over Princess Peach's castle, they will gain nothing from it other then a castle that is vulnerable to attack. Destroying it will also produce little results."

"…Diversions, perhaps? From his real goal?" Wily suggested.

"Quite possibly, but we must wait and see. Five of those taken have been dealt with. Three remain. One, we are dealing with now. Let us wait for the other two…Then we shall see what he is planning."

* * *

1. Musou is the special attack from the dynasty warrior series. It normally is just one set combo of attacks, followed by a powerful finish. In the story, musou is technique descendent from the art of Hokuto Shinken, which is commonplace on Earth V. The technique is a pressure point sealer and body enhancer, it greatly rises the warrior's inner power, boosting their abilities for a set time. The only ones lacking in musou are Lu Bu and Zuo Ci.

2. The Cow Cow thing is actually from the Dynasty Warriors series, up to number 5. The US/UK voice actors kept calling the ruler of Wei this, failing to say his name right. This also effected the ruler's son as well, Cao Pi (Cow Pi, when it should be said as "Sao Pi"), and his brother, Cao Ren. This was permanently corrected in Warriors Orochi and beyond.

-Dragonridley


	5. A Dark Soul: Time Trap

Xiahou Yuan, Zhang Fei, Charlie Nash and Link had all arrived on Mushroom world, just in front of Princess Peach's Castle, at the bridge that leads over the small little moat, to the castle front door.

Xiahou Yuan got his Battering Rod out, and looked at the door. "Alright people, are we ready to do some bashing?"

Charlie looked at Xiahou Yuan. "Is Sima Yi actually inside the castle? Because if he is, we might be in for a looonnnngg chase. This place is filled with magic portraits that lead to small worlds. He could be hiding in any of them."

Link looked behind them, at the castle grounds, then turned back at the group. "Hey guys…"

Xiahou Yuan moved his helmet a little, and scratched his head. "Well…he could be. Knowing that guy, his gone for the world that we would least expect him to be….what kind of worlds are there Charlie?"

Zhang Fei then raises his hand quickly, to draw their attention. "Oh! I know! Lets just burn these portraits! That way, the job's done quicker, and we can get back to the base and get pissed!…how's that sound?"

Charlie sighed. "No Zhang Fei…just…no. If we spilt up-"

Link taps on Charlie's shoulder. "Hey Charlie?"

"-and go into a portrait each, we can have a quick look around, and then go to another. If we could leave a mark or something showing that the portrait has already been checked-"

"Charlie?…guys?"

"-Then within no time at all, one of us will find Sima Yi, use the com-links to contact the others, and bob's your uncle, his ours for the taking."

Link used his fist to hit Charlie in the shoulder in annoyance. Charlie winced, then looked at Link, as did Xiahou Yuan and Zhang Fei. "You best have a good reason for whacking my shoulder like that Link."

Link pointed to the Castle grounds.

There, was Bowser, swinging his claws around, trying to get a hit at Sima Yi, who was easily dodging the attacks thanks to Bowsers slow speed. Bowser gave an almighty roar, and glared at Sima Yi, who had jumped back, and smirked at the dragon turtle.

"Grr! Stand still you little punk! Anyone who even THINKS to try and attack the Mushroom kingdom that rightfully is my property to steal, is gonna get flattened, mauled and cooked!"

Sima Yi just laughed a little, then ran at Bowser, continuing their little fight.

Charlie looked shocked that he didn't even hear the commotion. "Uhh…yes….uh, well done Link for…spotting that.."

Sima Yi had avoided Bowser's flame breath, before firing an purple energy beam from his fan, hitting Bowser square in the stomach, and making him grumble in pain, holding his stomach, and letting down his guard… Sima Yi would've taken this moment to attack him, if it wasn't for the Sonic Boom flying his way, and him jumping over it, seeing the newcomers running towards him. "Well well, some more petty annoyances like Bowser have come to join in the fray…suppose I should call in some support!"

Sima Yi had raised his fan, and Charlie, Link, Xiahou Yuan and Zhang Fei got close, they came to a halt, as Heartless had begun to appear in front of them…and around them as well. Bowser was also having some heartless appear before him, as he finally recovered.

Sima Yi smiled evilly. "Well, lets see if you can live long enough to kill all these.."

The heartless slowly moved in towards them all, with Sima Yi just standing there, waving his fan on himself, chuckling a little.

Bowser wasn't going to stand down though, and gave an almighty roar at the heartless, before beginning a rampage of crawling and swiping any unlucky heartless that were in range of him.

Xiahou Yuan and Link pulled out their bows, and unleashed arrows upon arrows at the heartless, taking them down two by two, especially any heartless that got close to them. Charlie moved one of his arms back, and in a swinging motion, bringing it forward, he shouted "sonic boom!", and energy, in the shape of a wheel, shot out of his arm, and ripped through the heartless standing in front of him.

As for Zhang Fei, he looked at Sima Yi, standing there, watching it all, making more and more heartless appear. "That girly bastard thinks these small fry are enough to slow ME down from kicking his sorry ass!? Does he know who I am?!"

Charlie kicked two heartless up into the air, and they dissolved away. He then looked at Zhang Fei, as he swiped a dozen of the small black creatures aside with his serpent spear. "You're the juggernaut, bitch?"

Zhang Fei glared at him. "Oh ha ha. Shut up Charlie! No, because I'm Zhang Fei of Yan! Pests aren't gonna hold me down!". He triggered his musou aura, which was the same as Zhao Yun's, and charged. The heartless were just being rammed aside by him, stop even being able to slow him down, as he aimed for Sima Yi.

Sima Yi saw him, and triggered his own musou, flying high in the air. His aura was a deep blue one. He looked down at Zhang Fei, raised his hands up…and dozens and dozens of purple beams rained down towards Zhang Fei, just as he leapt up into the air, towards Sima Yi.

The beams rapidly hit him, sending him right back down to the floor, slamming into the ground, his aura fading out. Sima Yi's attacks were a lot more powerful now then Zhang Fei recalled. Sima Yi couldn't relax though, as he had to dodge an arrow, which just flew by his face. He looked down, and saw Link preparing another arrow, and fired it.

Sima Yi was able to dodge again, and fired a few of the purple beams at link, who just raised his shield, and blocked them. Zhang Fei was back up now, and taking out some of the heartless, whilst trying to build up his strength to trigger another musou, although that wasn't needed, as Sima Yi's musou had ran out, and he had to float back down to the ground…and before he could act, Zhang Fei rushed at him, and socked him right across the face, sending him flying through the heartless.

As soon as Sima Yi got up, the fight between them all continued…it was all part of a larger scheme….

* * *

In the labs of the Hero base, they got reported sightings of Megatron now, as Charlie, Link, Xiahou Yuan and Zhang Fei were busy. Dr Wily, Dr Light and Zhuge Liang were inside the labs at the time. Dr wily was the one at the main computer. " Damn. We got another one now, near Station Square on Mobius."

Zhuge Liang looked at the computer, as it pin pointed where Megatron is on the planet. "It is nothing to worry about, this is in our capability."

Dr Light nodded. "I'll call up a few of the others to deal with him."

That's when they heard another beep come off the computer, as Sun Ce was now reported near Hyrule castle, on Hyrule. Dr Light shrugged. "I'll send some on him as well. Their all apart from one another on different planets."

Zhuge Liang looked at the screen again, waving his fan slightly on himself. "Interesting…they allow themselves to be divided and conquered…unless the real threat will strike soon, I Suggest, Thomas and Albert, that you keep an eye on reports going to the GF now. As you've noticed, we've found all 8 people that we lost. If anything else happens, it will only go to the federation."

Dr Light was soon using the com-link to contact people in the base. He sent Mr T, Optimas Prime, Soundwave, Tails and Megaman to handle Megatron, while Sora from Kingdom Hearts, Ryu, Ken, Samus and Xiahou Dun deal with Sun Ce.

When each party was sent though, they had the same problem has the party dealing with Sima Yi…almost endless heartless coming at them, even large ones to handle the likes of Optimas Prime and Soundwave.

They contacted Dr Light, and in response, he sent Zhang Liao and Xu Huang of Earth V to aid those fighting Sima Yi, Serious Sam and Zhao Yun to aid those fighting Sun Ce, and Starscream and Forte to aid those fighting Megatron…but it wasn't enough, soon they were asking for more help, as the heartless had increased in numbers…and in response, more and more people were sent…

Soon the base was almost empty from the constant teleporting of people and the constant call for help, leaving behind in the base, Anna, Zhang He, Pang Tong, Roll, Medi, Cao Cao, Pang De of Earth V, Dr Light, Dr Wily, Dr Regal, Dr Yuichiro, Lan and a knocked out/tired out batch of people, who were Chad, Sonic, Mario, Jak and Laserman.

Soon Cao Cao and Pang De were seen teleporting away in the labs, to assist those against Sima Yi. Dr Light, Dr Wily, Zhuge Liang and Yuichiro were all in the labs now, the fighting in the areas had gone on for a few hours.

Dr Light smiled in relief. "That's the last of them, all evened out and divided between the three groups. That should be far more then enough to finally deal with the problem. Those three possibly can't challenge all those people at once."

Zhuge Liang had been looking at the computer screen, looking at all three places were battles were being fought, then looked at Dr Light, and shook his head. "We have sent many away from here Thomas, if anything, we are now at risk of being attacked ourselves."

Yuichiro nodded. "His right father. If Darkmega himself came, then we would be in serious trouble, especially if he has an army like the groups have been reporting."

Dr Light looked at them, and gave them a reassuring smile. "I doubt Darkmega would have the brains to do something like that."

Oh, how wrong he was…

* * *

In the Black Fortress in the void, Darkmega, Richard and Chaos were in the hall once again.

"Everything's going to your suggestion, they sent most of the morons out to fight the heartless and the last three." Darkmega said, before looking at Chaos, to see what he would say next.

Chaos turned away from them both. "Now we can begin the next phase…I bought an ally to assist us with this. Chad needs to be lured out and away from that base before we can push him aside…I have the perfect person to lead him away."

Then, slowly floating into the hall, laughing evilly, was Master Hand from the Smash Bros series. A wanted criminal, known for being from the Farside, and attempting several times to attack a world that housed a being called Kirby, and the Mushroom world. He lived within this void, and had known Chaos for quite a while now, and knew he had plans.

Master hand was found when Chaos arrived, along with his own castle, in the black void, where Master Hand had stayed in, and asked the large white hand, with some acting as if he respected the thing, to assist him in his grand schemes, in return, Master Hand would be allowed to attack wherever and whoever he pleased once the plans had been realised.

The hand certainly didn't refuse this offer. He had his own reasons for doing so. If he could prove his worth to someone like Chaos, gain a position then he could return to the Farside proud.

Master Hand floated near the others. "Shall I depart right away, Chaos?"

Chaos nodded. "Right away, no need to stay put, this is our chance."

Master Hand quickly flew off, knowing his part of the fun was just starting.

Richard frowned. "Master Hand? C'mon Chaos! Mario can beat Master Hand! And Chad's beat the daylight out of the plumber once! What chance does a floating white hand have?"

"None, but he is disposable. I had him hired a while back, lacked any use for him till now, and I have no other use for him other then fodder for our idea."

* * *

In the hospital of the hero base, about ten minutes ago, Chad had opened his eyes and sat himself up. Right now, he was sitting in one of the chairs with Anna next to him, and Medi going around, checking on the other four.

He had told Anna about Phantom, after he and the others had freed Sonic, Mario and Jak from control.

Anna looked a little worried. "I've never heard of him before…and you couldn't even stop him?"

"I couldn't even make him back off, let alone stop him. It was like fighting Lu Bu all over again, a one-sided fight."

"Well, at least he didn't hurt you too much…" Anna gave him a sweet smile.

He smiled at her back. "Yeah… so what's going on right now? Has Sima Yi been sorted out?"

Anna shook her head, the smile gone. "No. things have got worse now. Sun Ce and Megatron showed up in different areas, and all three of them keep summoning waves and waves of heartless. Dr Light has nearly sent everyone to sort them out."

"Jeez, that isn't too good…any idea who's been left here 'cept you, me, Medi and the four people down and out?"

"Nope, no clue…" Anna then looked over at Medi. "Medi? Any ideas on whose been left behind?"

Medi looked at them both. "Well, I think it's just the docs and Zhuge Liang, there the only ones I know about."

Then, Chad got a feeling…a tingle down the spine…something was happening…or something was ABOUT to. He looked over to the hospital door…and he saw a heartless, one of the small ones, just appearing inside the hospital.

Before it even had a chance to move, Chad had sliced it in half with the Blade of Darkness, as he stood near where it was. "Heartless…Damnit, Darkmega's sent a few friends to attack here while most of the guys are out! Medi, Anna! Stay put and contact the docs of what's going on!"

Chad left the hospital, and the main room was filled with the little critters, as they all looked at Chad, and begun to advance.

He didn't waste any time. The Blade of Darkness had it's fun, as each time it went through the air, at least 4 or so heartless were taken down, no matter which way it went, it got it's kills, the heartless were stupid, all they find was run at him, right into the blade, not turning to try and avoid or anything, dissolving away without even getting close enough for an attack.

Chad, as the heartless continued this aimless suicide plan, realised that…well, they should be a least a little bit brighter then what they are right now.

Then, the heartless just turned and fled down one of the corridors. Chad knew then, that they were trying to lure him into some kind of trap, which then they would attack him properly, along with whatever allies they get.

He COULD just let them flee, get some help, and get the heartless with their own game by running after them, let them set off the trap, then run back in, and get his friends to ambush them… but this was Chad. One little trap, no matter how obvious, was not gonna effect him, in his view…

Chad followed after them, with the blade of darkness still ready. They were quite fast for little weak creatures, he could easily catch up to them in a flash and dice them all down, but that would just spoil the fun, as the trap might have even Richard or Darkmega waiting for him, a real fight.

He soon found himself outside, running away from the base as the sun was setting in the sky. He looked at the heartless still running on, and thought to himself. 'Hmm, this is perfect for a large group of them to suddenly attack me and try to beat the shit out of me…'

Then the heartless he was chasing…vanished.

Chad slowed down and stopped, looking around the area of green grass before him, annoyed with the fact they just disappeared, and nothing's happened yet.

Chad sighed in annoyance. He couldn't see them or anything that would be dangerous, and lowered his sword, thinking to himself. "Sneaky little shits…still…this is odd, where's the trap or ambush?"…he waited.

…still nothing. "Well, this is bloody disappointing. Maybe Darkmega expected those heartless to be enough to take over the base or something."

Whilst he was thinking, he failed to notice the slowly growing large hand shaped shadow looming over where he was, he only realised it was there when he looked at the ground, at the shadow. "Huh…don't recall my shadow being so large and misshaped…maybe I've put on weight or…oh…" He quickly rolled out of the shadow, just, as Master Hand slammed into the ground, at where Chad was a moment ago.

Chad quickly stood up, weapon at the ready, looking at the white glove, as it floated off the ground, and turned towards Chad. It didn't take Chad long to recognise the hand. "You! Your Master Hand!"

Master Hand made the first move, not waiting, and tried to punch Chad, who easily moved out of the way. Chad then fired a chaos beam at the Hand, which hit it as it turned around, ready to try to punch Chad again, and it yelled out in pain, before changing tactics, and trying to grab Chad instead, and Chad jumped back to avoid the hand.

"No wonder Mario beat your ass! Your moves are too predictable!" Chad said whilst dodging a few swings and grabs from the hand, then stabbing his Blade of Darkness into the top of the thumb, making it bleed, and Master Hand flying back a little, making the blade come back out.

"Futile pest! I'll crush you!" Master Hand bellowed, then, from his finger tips, four small blue energy beams fired out, all heading at Chad. Shame it's easily dodged, as Chad showed by jumping to the side at the last moment, and firing a chaos beam at the hand, knocking it back a little.

Chad just smirked as the hand tried again with the beams, and he dodged once again, firing the chaos beam again. "You're the surprise? I would've enjoyed an army of heartless instead of having to kick your ass!"

In the distance, away from them and their fight…Chaos watched, looking at Master Hand trying to attack Chad again and again, and failing which time, getting hit over and over…soon Master Hand will be gone, and his trap will be finally sprung on Chad. "That's it Chad…keep playing with the fool…once you got rid of him for me, you can say goodbye to your friends.."

The battle just stayed in Chad's favour all the time, no matter what the hand tried to pull, soon, it found itself covered in cuts, burnt marks from the beams, and on the floor, twitching, trying to recover. "H-how could I fail again?"

Chad walked over towards the hand, with his blade of darkness at the ready. "Well, I think that's you done and dusted, now, what's with this little surprise attack? Did you know it would just be me coming out?"

Master Hand just groaned, giving up trying to recover. But he didn't say a word to Chad. instead mumbling something faintly. "Mistress Ingrid…you were…right to deem me, unworthy…"

Chad just sighed. "Look, tell me, and I'll let you go instead of doing the finishing blow, okay? You can always come back and try again later…although I doubt you want to face me again after today. Who is Ingrid?"

Master Hand had to take this into consideration…he could live to try again, that's what Chaos would want…he could make Master Hand more powerful, more deadly…

Chad had to quickly move back, as a massive version of his chaos beam had shot by, just missing him, and engulfing Master Hand, as he yelled in pain…and got completely obliterated. All of Chad's curiosity on the woman Master Hand mentioned died off, as he heard an all too familiar voice.

"Sorry Chad, but he didn't need to live any longer. As for you, I need you away for a little while…your friends will have to go on without you."

Chad then turned to try and see where the voice came from…only to be staring right into a white vortex, swirling in front of him, large enough to let a man walk through…and before he could even question what the hell was going on, it sucked him in so suddenly…to Chad, everything went silent, and he couldn't see, or even move his body. The vortex closed, and behind it, was Chaos, smirking, before he vanished.

"That's the pest out of the way now."

* * *

Chad was floating there…in this white, empty place. Slowly, he could hear faint, very faint voices…he looked around. Nothing, no one there…just endless white.

He soon felt his body work again, and was able to stand up now, instead of just floating there, in a sitting position. He looked around again, still nothing. The whispers were strange, they sounded like people he knew, but he couldn't understand them.

"Where….where am I…am I… dead?".

He heard the voice that he heard in the grassland. "Not likely".

it had come from behind him, but when he looked…no one was there.

Chad looked around carefully again. "Alright, who's there!"

No reply. Just silence.

"Alright whoever brought me here, have you killed me or something? Because I had a lot of things I wanted to do before I died!"

The voice was again behind him. "Behind you, Chad, and no, you're not dead…yet."

Chad once again looked behind him…nothing there. He turned himself to the direction the figure was suppose to be and then looked around once more, getting annoyed. "You disappeared again asshole. Show yourself and stop jerking me around!"

Then, the voices became a little clearer, still nothing more then whispers…

"So Chad is out of the way, and the last of the eight have been defeated…"

"It seems so, but now we can attack our main target. Finally get all those idiots 'evicted'."

Chad was getting really pissed off now. This isn't what he needed, strange voices going around him and this main one which, it's owner seems to like playing. "ARGH! Lemme out of this goddamn place!"

Then, more whispers are flowing around Chad…some again, he can hear fine.

"This is stupid! They just keep coming! We have to plan a retreat!"

"Damnit, this isn't what we need after kicking so much ass against Sima Yi! We need a break!"

Chad looked around again. "…Okay, what's going on?"

That main voice was heard again. "Obviously your going insane, Chad Malyan."

Chad got his Blade of Darkness out, and looked around quickly. "Shut up and show yourself bastard!"

"I'm surprised for haven't figured out who I am yet, Chad. Have you really forgotten me already?"

"COME OUT!" Chad yelled….it was silent after…then…he heard a footstep, and quickly turned around to look behind himself. Standing nearby, looking right at Chad, or so Chad thinks, thanks to those damn shades, was Chaos.

Chad was stunned. He thought Chaos would never show his face again.. "C…Chaos!?"

The whispers returned, going around him and Chaos.

"The labs and the hospital have been overrun by the little critters!"

"Why the hell have they suddenly got more intelligent with their fighting?"

"I, Yuan Shao, shall lead everyone to retake the base! Charge!"

"Don't be stupid Yuan! That place is crammed full of the things! Sorry Thomas, Albert, but I suggest we leave it alone!"

Chad glared at Chaos, knowing he had something to do with this. "Alright Chaos, what have you done!"

Chad wasn't impressed with Chaos staying quiet. "What's going on in the real world Chaos? What sick idea have you come up with THIS time?!"

Chaos smiled. "Simple. I'm working with Darkmega in his idea of creating an empire, to destroy the GF, and take over the universe, crushing any and all in our path, of course. I bet you wish you could go back…but I'm afraid you WON'T be leaving…back to that time, at least."

"What is that suppose to mean Chaos?"

Chaos shrugged. "You'll find out."

Before Chad could even do anything, he felt himself weaken, and become very tired, falling to his hands and knees, dropping his sword, and soon found himself laying on the floor, his eyes closing, the last voice he heard was from one of the whispers.

"We need to contact the Galactic Federation. We've been overrun, and Darkmega is quickly sending the heartless all over the place…"

* * *

Chad's mind was all fuzzy…He opened one eye, and found himself looking up at the night sky, stars, thousands, littering across it, and one large bluish moon…

He closed his eye…he felt a cool breeze flow by, and felt the ground a little with his hands…dirt, hard. Not like the strange void.

He opened his eyes, and turned his head to look around…it was a vast, open plain, with several small hills in the distance…the ground seemed to be a faint blue colour, though that could be just the moonlight causing that.

Chad thought to himself. "Okay…not what I was expecting when I first wake up from a void of some sort which had my enemy in it, after beating Master Hand…"

He noticed a faint rush of a green glow go across the ground and past him. He quickly looked up, and saw what it was.

An aurora. The night was flowing with several strands of the light, which seemed to be constantly moving, but in a slow, wavy manner, like a dance in the sky, some of them blue, others, green…

He stood himself up, and quickly noticed something…his body. He noticed he was a little taller, and slightly slimmer…he felt older…well, it could've been worse, he could've been horribly mutated. He felt thankful he was pretty much normal.

"Well, this is quite strange." Was all he could say right now.

He felt he was being watched, eyes were looking at him from behind, he could feel it. He turned, and there, was an old man, who was actually looking up at the night sky, in his hand, were five odd looking…cards…

"…Who are you?" Chad said, staying back from the old man, and holding the hilt of his Blade of Darkness, incase he needed to pull it out for a fight. For all he knew, this old geezer could be chaos's ally.

The man slowly looked from the sky, to the boy. Chad could see this, slight grey aura around the old guy, as the aurora flowed overhead…and he felt…calm, in his presence.

The old guy finally spoke. "Chad Malyan, I had wondered when we would finally meet. I am Zuo Ci. I had brought you here after you had been asleep for so long…"

"Asleep?"

"Yes Chad, for almost 2 years."

Chad looked at Zuo Ci like he was insane…two years? Two years!? No way in hell could he have been asleep for that long! "Sorry what?"

Zuo Ci sighed, and walked towards Chad, who backed off slowly. "You have been asleep, thanks to Chaos, for almost two years. You were put aside, while Darkmega took this chance to take over Earth X, and begin his dark empire."

Chad still didn't believe it, until he remembered what Chaos said…you won't be leaving, back to that time at least. "Chaos…that asshole…what's happened to everyone uhh…whatever your name is! The people at the hero base! What's happened to them, do you know?"

"As I said, it's Zuo Ci Chad. And yes, I do know what's happened to them…they have left their home, and moved to somewhere else, while the chaos grew."

"Where to?"

"Another base. On the planet Zebes. It took them awhile to make, but that is where they are right now, if you wish to find them."

Chad smiled, a little relaxed now. "That's good then…So….where is this?"

"Earth V Chad. The world of Cao Cao, Liu Bei, Sun Jian and Yuan Shao. As to where this exact location is…This is Wu Zhang Plains."

Chad looked around once more. "It's quite peaceful here…and beautiful in it's own way."

"You might see it again sometime again Chad…For now you should focus on going home." Zuo Ci suggested.

"Good idea. I best go there now and check on them."

The deity looked a little worried. "That will not be easy. Your Com-link is out of date. Contacting your friends will be impossible."

"Well, can you teleport me there or something?"

"Yes, I suppose I could, it is within my power…but what makes you trust me with this? For all you know, I might be a servant of Chaos, planning to send you into the fires of hell. You haven't asked me what I am, what my purpose is here, or even if I'm another evil planning to take over everything."

Chad thought about this for a moment…then answered "I just do. There's something about you, this place, that makes me think you're a good guy, I HOPE I'm not wrong though. My real concern right now is my friends, so asking about you can come later if we meet again."

Zuo Ci chuckled slightly. "You're quite right. I was just checking. Very well, I shall send you to your friends. We shall meet again soon, Chad Malyan. Your destiny, has only just begun."

Before Chad could even ask, he vanished.

* * *

Chad opened his eyes, finding them suddenly closed, and saw that he was out of Wu Zhang Plains…and in a wasteland of some sort, with rain pouring down upon him….great…he looked around, and saw a huge cave nearby, with some kind of massive metal door at it's entrance.

"Well, that's gotta be it then, I suppose. Fucking Zebes and it's bloody weather…"

Planet Zebes was famous for it's weather, and it's constant blowing up problems, back in days of Samus fighting Mother Brain. The weather was known to be constant rain, followed by a few days of sunshine…before it rains all over again, floods were VERY common on this planet.

It was always known for it's areas. It had four different ones. You had Brinstar, which was the tropical parts of the planet, with some underground caverns. Maridia, which was mostly the sea. Norfair, which was lava filled caves, the main underground network of this planet, and finally Crateria, which was what Chad was at now, the normal areas of the planet.

The planet was deemed unsafe, as Chad last recalled, but after two years, it seems like that's been changed.

He walked towards the metal door, and looked at it…before knocking.

….Nothing happened.

He knocked again.

Nothing happened still.

Chad looked at it carefully this time. "Hmm." Then he moved back, and fired a Chaos beam at it…which bounced off, and flew back at him, smacking him right in the chest, and he fell to the floor with a thud, the rain now dripping all over his face, as he was looking up at the grey clouds.

"Ow…okay, that doesn't work."

Chad got up, and went towards the door, with the blade of darkness at the ready, and swung it…only for it to smack into the metal, not cut through it, and shaken him up a little.

"Uhh…okay, that failed too. hmm."

He moved back, formed a few mini bombs from his battle chips, and flung them at the door…they hit and exploded…but the door was fine afterwards.

Now Chad was getting frustrated.

He tried Cannon chips, Vulcan chips, swords, the Zeta Cannon program advance, the Giga Cannon program advance, more mini bombs, the life sword program advance, which was an almighty energy sword that could create a shockwave of energy on the ground…and nothing made a difference to that bloody door. Chad was just cursing and swearing.

Within an hour or so of trying, he soon found himself just banging on the door. "OPEN UP! OPEN UP I SAID! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!"…nope, shouting failed…he leaned on the door, getting tired, and soaked through to the bone thanks to the rain. "Alright…door 1, me 0.…I'll get you for this, door…"

Then, he noticed a small, little computer screen nearby the door, and went over to it. It had a little red button…he pressed it, and a female voice said. "Password please. Please complete the following: The darkness is hated by all…"

Chad took a moment for this. "Uhh….But the darkness can easily be killed?"

The computer screen showed, in red. "INCORRECT!"

Chad pressed the red button, and it asked him again. "But it's not as bad as the GF?"

Nope.

"But it's like a bar of chocolate? Evil, but slightly sweet and addictive?"

Wrong.

"But darkness means evil, and women are evil?"

Not it either.

"But darkness is only useful to wussies?"

Wrong again.

"Let me in damnit!"

Wrong once again.

"The moment I find out who made this, I'll murder them!"

The screen showed incorrect again.

"ARGH! But the light is what we love?! Is it something fucking silly like that?!"

There was new writing on the screen, in green. It showed "CORRECT." The metal door slowly opened.

Chad looked at the door, then at the computer, then at the door…and shrugged. "Well damn, so it was something silly like that…ah well it's effective enough to keep people out and piss them off to no end."

He walked inside and found the inside of the cave, was actually a huge metal corridor, leading downhill, underground. He very slowly walked down it. There were plenty of lights to show the way, as the metal door at the entrance closed up.

He soon heard voices, people chatting, the humming of computers…he reached the end of the long corridor, and…he stood there, surprised…

There was a massive hall before him, with it's ceiling a huge dome shape, projected on it, was the star charts, and a universe map, from a few of the many, MANY computers he could see all around the walls. There was corridors connecting to this hall, and two doors, leading to a brand new labs, and a brand new hospital, which were double the size of the base one…

This, was the new main room, of the new hero base.

He noticed and recognized everyone who was in the room at the time, and it only took one person to notice, Ryu, before everyone else was looking over at what he was looking at, as he stood there, stunned.

It felt very awkward now, almost as if Chad just come into a party uninvited, everyone had gone silent, staring at Chad. He saw Dr Regal, who was in the main room, quickly walk off into the labs, after seeing Chad.

Chad very slowly made his way into the group of people, going towards the centre of the place, everyone moving aside for him, he could see the faces of Quickman, forte, Zhao Yun, Ma Chao, Xiahou Dun, Laserman, Cao Cao, Liu Bei, Charlie, Ken, Medi…then, he heard someone say. "Get out of the way, move it move it! I need to see for myself!"

Then, pushing his way past Cao Cao and Laserman…was Dr Wily, using his walking stick as a way to make them know he was there, and to move aside, he was looking shocked at Chad. "…Chad? Is that really you?"

Chad weakly smiled at him. "Hey Wily. It's been awhile, huh?"

* * *

It had been three hours…

In Corridor 4, room 12, which was now Chad's, Chad was seen in the bathroom, in the bath itself, with his eyes shut, bubbles everywhere, the water, hot and refreshing…his room was pretty much the same as before, bar from the lack of windows, and just lights.

He needed a bath after all that talk, he needed to recover. Two years of not washing was gonna be bad, hygiene wise. Despite the fact he didn't actually smell, he perhaps thought he ended up like Pang Tong, who sometimes didn't seem the notice the stench coming off him.

He remembered the talk between him and Wily in the labs.

They had to leave Earth X after Darkmega invaded…the planet didn't last long after that. Within four weeks, the Galactic Federation declared an evacuation of the planet to avoid too many casualties, and the world was quickly overrun. But it didn't end there, Darkmega was able to use a spaceport on the planet, and use it's ships to invade other planets with waves and waves of heartless, for these two years.

It's been nothing more then fights. Darkmega hasn't gained a foothold on any other planet, but keeps trying, and with his endless supply of heartless, he doesn't show no signs of giving up…

The GF had continued to try and invade Earth X to reclaim it, but there hasn't been much luck. The heroes had been giving them a hand as much as possible, like right now, Anna, Samus, Link and Liu Bei had all gone to Earth X to try and help the GF take over the very spaceport that was causing all these problems.

Wily said that they were lucky no one has been fatally wounded so far. There has been a ton of close calls, but they've made it out okay. And as for the old hero base…that's been fully taken by Darkmega, used as his main fort.

Chad asked about Chaos…but Wily said there hasn't been no sign of a man called Chaos in Darkmega's ranks during these two years. Richard is still faithfully working with Darkmega, with everyone in the base now agreeing that he must be working for Darkmega without any type of mind control.

Chad didn't believe it. He still thinks Richard would never go this low, his family is here, his life is here. He must be being made to work, under some kind of dark mind control ability Darkmega has.

Chad just sighed, not wanting to think about it anymore, and kept his eyes shut, laying there in the water. He was here now, and things can go back to a more normal level. Maybe the GF will defeat Darkmega, and they'll get their old base back, in time.

Chad wasn't a macho man, but he certainly wasn't fat either, he had slight muscles on his chest, stomach, legs and arms, and had little to no armpit hair. The bubbles floated everywhere on top of the water…the main thing he was really waiting for, was for Anna to come back…

He wondered what her reaction would be. Maybe she'll show some affection towards him, giving him the all clear to ask her out. To finally date Anna…That would be great…

He heard a little splash, and felt ripples in the water.

He opened one eye, and had a look at where it came from. In the bathtub with him now, was a little yellow rubber duck…now that wasn't there a moment ago. "Huh…Strange."

What he failed to notice, was the pink and black Navi clothing standing right next to the bathtub, with the owner of them looking down at him, smiling.

Roll just kept smiling, and said "I just thought you would want something to cover up where the bubbles missed."

"GAH!" Chad quickly looked at her, surprised that she was even there, and quickly going red with embarrassment, lowering himself in the water slightly, as if trying to hide his whole body bar his head. "Roll!? When did you come in!?"

"Just a few minutes ago, I did knock, but you never answered, so I decided to come in and see if you were really back, and it wasn't Medi making a prank on me…didn't expect to see more of you at the same time."

Chad knew what she meant, when he looked at where the duck was positioned…and blushed, knowing that she saw his groin area.

Roll looked at where the duck was as well, before looking back at Chad, remembering what she saw…he certainly didn't lack anything.

Chad looked at her again. "How did you even get in! I locked the door with my key card!"

Key cards are the now thing. You insert them into the lock of the door, and it opens, simple. Turning the card left or right while it's in the lock, then taking it out, locks the door tight. This works on a computer program that is connected to every door in the base.

Roll giggled, the pointed at her slightly see-through, light yellow antennas, which were sticking out of her helmet from the sides. "Have a guess Chad!"

Chad sighed, and remembered…Roll was a natural for hacking, literally designed to, those antennas can be inserted anywhere which is connected to a computer program, and with her mind and programming, she can hack the code to make things lock or unlock. She can try over a thousand codes and passwords within a second. This is also possible with locked, pass worded data in the net, firewalls, barriers, you name it, Roll can probably hack it.

Roll then bent down near Chad, leaning on the bath side. "It's nice to know you're back Chad, most of us missed you. I really can't believe I'm even looking at you."

Chad gave her an awkward smile, his face wouldn't stop glowing red. "Thanks Roll, but…uhh… could you get me a couple of towels off the side, so I can get out? Talking to a girl while having a bath is something I'm not too used to….at all."

"Oh right! Sorry!" Roll quickly got Chad the towels and put them right close to the bath, so Chad could reach them…then smiled and waited.

Chad sighed. She didn't get the hint. "Thanks…could you, ya know…wait in my bedroom and close the bathroom door behind you while I get out and dry myself a little?"

Roll blushed a little, and quickly left to Chad's bedroom, making sure the bathroom door was closed after. She sat on the bed, and heard him get out of the bath…she wouldn't of minded being there, but it was obvious why she couldn't be. Their were just friends…but now his back…perhaps, with a lot of effort, she could make it more then that. Once Chad had re-settled in, and Darkmega is somehow defeated, perhaps she could ask him out on a date or something.

She has been worried sick about him for the entire two years. A lot of people simply said he was dead after a month, and after one year, even Anna seemed to be in the same mind. But Roll couldn't believe he was dead, and when Medi said he was back when she went to see her friend in the hospital, Roll was over the moon.

Then…her mind wandered a little, as she knew Chad was busy drying himself…she thought back to what she saw in the bath, before covering it with the rubber duck.

She had long lost her virginity to Megaman, only a few months after going out, but he wasn't an impressive show. If it wasn't for her flexibility and bending skills, to her view, it would have never got inside at all, and it wasn't going to get bigger, unless Lan gives Megaman an upgrade for it, since Megaman refuses to have upgrades unless his OP says so….she had to let him off of that, since she won't unless Maylu feels Roll needs an upgrade.

As Navi's get older, their bodies do not change, unless they decide to use upgrades to make themselves more mature…She didn't mock him for his size though, lovers don't do that. She accepted it, but of course nowadays, she doesn't care who she says it to. Their relationship has improved, as in her and Megaman are friends again, but that's it. Thinking of upgrades, Roll looked down at herself. She has kept this look since the day of creation, which was 7 years ago now. Her look…she would have to put a lot of effort in to attract Chad.

She was beautiful, no doubt. She was kind, sweet, and caring, and treasured people close to her…but she does lack, in her view, in certain areas, especially one that Medi forever points out, her breasts.

She pretty much doesn't have any.

In bra size, she would be classed as AA. Underneath her Navi clothing, she still wears a bra, if only to make herself look a little bigger. It's this that put her down from finding another guy for these last two years, and made her stay with Megaman for so long back then, before she just had enough with the way he treated her at times, and it's this that is making her unsure about doing anything with Chad, beyond friendship.

Medi just never stops saying about them at times. she always points out at Roll's got a great ass that's firm and curvy, that attracts most of the male's attention, a sweet smile, gorgeous eyes, soft skin, but, as Medi believes and reminds Roll over and over, it's the middle area, that will decide if your truly hot or not.

Medi would then boast on about hers, which were about at least DD, in Roll's view, and how a lot of guys do take notice of them while she treats them in hospital…she's been with several guys before, but all of them got dumped, the last one just before she came to the base. She just felt they can't fulfil her needs.

"What's up Roll? You look a little disappointed about something."

Roll looked. Chad had just came in from the bathroom, wearing a grey, cotton dressing gown, which was one of the basics items your given for free here, and with a small towel on his hair. He sat down near her.

"Oh it's nothing, honest. So Chad, how much do you know about everything around here?"

"Well, not really too much. Wily only gave me the basics of what's been going on."

Roll began to fill him in on anything he wanted to know. The first thing he asked about was how did the heroes end up so far away from Earth? She said that after Chad had vanished, and the last three controlled people were defeated and brought back to the base, the surprise attack of thousands upon thousands of heartless occurred.

They held out for a while, but once Richard and Darkmega appeared and joined the fray, the base was lost. Dr Light and Dr Wily had called the GF to send transports right away to collect them all, telling Keaton it was an invasion. Keaton had sent the transports, which brought them all to Gaia VII first. Dr Light, Dr Wily, Dr Regal and Dr Yuichiro all had to explain to Keaton that it was Darkmega, and he was controlling an actual army.

Keaton wasn't impressed in the slightest, knowing that the docs allowed such a creature to be created, and wanted to just get rid of them. But Yuan Shao intervened, and suggested that another hero base be built for them, on another planet, so the people could recover and wait until this entire thing had blown over, with Keaton handling the situation, sending plenty of engineers and supplies to build the base to the standards of the Earth one, and to allow the heroes to assist if need be.

Yuan Shao was a high minister, to refuse his idea was to lose all rank, so Keaton was pretty much fucked, and had to listen to him.

By the time Dr Light and Dr Wily suggested Zebes as a new home, Earth X was overrun by Darkmega. Keaton had increased all defences on the nearby planets of it, in order to stop Darkmega from taking anymore over, and that's how the standoff has been since. There has been battles won, and battles lost. A lot of men had died during the fights, including one of the GF most finest officers, Colonel Barrel aka, as he was nicknamed once, "The immortal Barrel."…not so immortal if he was blown to bits in an explosion.

As for the heroes, they had left Gaia VII, and headed to Zebes. It didn't take them long to find the cave, and realise there was an underground network of caverns beneath it. The engineers, many of the GF's most effective ones, began work…it only took them a year and a 2 months to finish the work, thanks to constant day to day work, with few days off, and if it was a day off, Yuan Shao hired other engineers to take over the ones resting. Yuan Shao picked each and every engineer himself…there was a LARGE hole in Keaton's pocket afterwards, especially since it was all taken from the military funding. The engineers also got paid triple their normal amount…again, from the military funding.

Keaton wasn't a fan of Yuan Shao being a high minister after that, he tried to argue about this to the other high ministers, but since Yuan Shao invites them to parties a lot on his planet, which include booze, duels to the death, entertainment and plenty of food, they told Keaton to listen to him without question.

The base has been up and running for about four months now, with very little problems. Roll said that it was pretty much the same as the Earth one, but it was underground, and connected to Norfair and an underground part of Brinstar, giving them plenty of freedom to explore the planet without having to go above.

Chad asked about who invented the password and door at the entrance to the cave. Roll told him it was Dr Light who thought up the idea…Chad had to remember to have a word with the doc about it.

He then asked how most of the people were, especially Yuan Shao, Shademan, Roll herself, Anna and Quickman. Roll told him that everyone was okay, a little shook up about the sudden attack, but they're now pretty much normal. Anna has been helping out a lot lately when it comes to going to Earth X, and has been acting more of a leader then the docs now. She's taken it upon herself to handle the likes of Darkmega after Chad vanished. The docs don't mind really, the people seem fine with her, and if she's leading them around, they can lay back and just focus on maintaining the base.

Quickman had been alright. He often tried to find his OP on Earth X when he went on a mission, but, of course, he never found him.

Yuan Shao was still being a typical noble, going around the base and checking on everyone, making sure the people in HIS base now, since he made the GF pay to build it, are still okay, and still he gets picked on by Cao Cao.

Shademan was still alright, a little unhappy with the fact that Richard had betrayed them, but never the less, he was okay. He had been helping Roll with trying to find someone else, as he noticed she looked a little sad more often then not nowadays, although she said it was because of what's going on.

Then Roll told Chad about herself. She has been very concerned about Chad and Richard, and missed them both for the past two years. She hadn't been quite the same throughout the time, and just wanted to go back home. She admitted she was a lot happier now, seeing Chad here, knowing he was okay now.

Roll then asked Chad a question. How did he get here? He then explained about the small heartless attack in the base, the ambush by Master Hand and his demise, the white vortex, Chaos, Zuo Ci, Wu Zhang Plains and that bloody door that blocked his path here on Zebes, which made Roll laugh a little.

"Heh, well at least you figured it out in the end." She said.

"Heh yeah, I guess…" Chad then sat there, looking around the room, before his com-link went off, now fully updated by Dr Wily, and he answered it, just as Roll was about to ask him something. "Hello?"

It was Dr Wily. "Chad, Anna is about to come back, if you want to surprise her, I suggest you come to the main room and wait for her."

Roll was a little crestfallen. She forgot about Chad's liking to Anna for a moment.

Chad smiled. Finally, he can see her again. "Alright Doc, thanks. I'll be there in a moment."

He put the com-link away, and stood up, looking at Roll. "Hey, if you could wait outside for a moment, I'll just get dressed. I gotta go and see Anna in the main room. You can tag along if you want."

Roll shook her head, as she got up off the bed. "No Chad, it's alright. I should go and see Maylu anyway. You….just take care of yourself, alright?"

"Sure. See ya around Roll."

"See ya.." Roll left, and slowly walked off, feeling a little gutted, but she knew she was still in with a little chance, as Anna and Chad weren't going out yet.

Chad got dressed into his normal attire, which several sets of a larger, more fitting size was given to him by Wily before he went to his room for a bath, and left to the main room.

* * *

In the main room, was Dr Wily and Dr Light, both were waiting, and within minutes of Chad walking in, teleporting in, was Anna, who looked a little bit older, was still wearing her normal clothing, with a grey coloured body armour attached now, slightly taller, with longer hair then before, and, as Chad noticed, a slimmer body, Link, Samus and Liu Bei, all looked a little bit bashed up, with Anna having a small cut on her right cheek, and her clothing damaged a little.

Dr Wily looked a little concerned. "The job to disable the spaceport didn't go to plan, I take it?"

Anna shook her head, as Liu Bei, Samus and Link all sat down to recover. She didn't seem to notice Chad at first. "The GF troopers screwed it up. They got panicky, and started to fire on any heartless that moved, setting the whole lot off on us without even getting a chance to surprise attack them. We were the lucky four that got out thanks to our own abilities. All the GF troopers are dead."

Dr Light was stunned. "All four hundred troopers?"

"Yep."

Samus Nodded. Her suit looked dented in a tad, and one shoulder of it was ripped open, exposing the wires and inner metal armour. "They couldn't shoot for shit. I think even fucking storm troopers could do better with the aim then them."

Chad then decided to get himself noticed, by saying. "Well at least you guys came back okay."

Anna and the others looked at him, with her nodding. "Yeah, that's true Chad. At least we…." She stopped.

She looked at Chad carefully.

Blinked.

Yep. He was still standing there.

Anna walked over to him, looking beyond the words of shocked at seeing him where.

Chad felt awkward. "Uhh….hi Anna."

The next thing Chad knew, was that his left cheek was experiencing pain, and he was looking to the right now…Anna had slapped him, hard. Then the next moment, he found Anna in his arms, holding him tight, almost in tears. She had to hit him in order to make sure he was well and truly there, and it wasn't some kind of dream. "My god, it really is you! Chad! Your alive!"

Chad blushed, a little surprised with the way Anna reacted. "It's okay Anna, I'm back, and this time I'm not going away."

* * *

Meanwhile…Darkmega and Richard, along with an army of heartless, were aboard one of the GF warships. They had left Earth X almost a week ago, leaving Chaos in charge, and the GF haven't noticed them gone yet. They had travelled far out from GF territory, close to the farside of the galaxy…there was a reason for this…

It was over 8 months ago now. When Darkmega and Richard had both attempted to invade one of the nearby planets of Earth X. They had a foothold on the planet for a few days, but that was enough… They had found an old, ancient temple, which was hidden in a forest. It was almost in complete ruin, and they just had a vague idea who it once belonged to, the Chozo race.

They had ventured into the temple, to see if there was anything worth taking, and there was…on an altar, shining thanks to the sunlight beaming down on it, through the broken stone sealing, was a dark, dark purple crystal, jagged, sharp, with a slight black aura around it, spinning slowly by itself, slightly floating off it's platform, small enough to be carried with two hands… there was dozens of skeleton's around, showing that people had tried to take it before…there was no sign of whatever killed them.

They looked onto the walls of the temple, noticing writing on it, and pictures, engraved into the stone…the writing was in Chozo, and they couldn't make no head nor tail of it. But the pictures..

They showed a figure, looking up into the sky, holding the crystal, and above, him, into space, was…a planet, with two horns, and an eye at the centre, just opening. The next picture along showed the figure floating in space, next to this planet monster, heading to another planet. The final picture along showed the monster planet's eye gone, and replacing it, was several sharp teeth, the horns were dug into the planet, and had dragged it close to the monster…it was obvious what was gonna happen.

Darkmega added it all up, knowing the crystal must be the thing to summon such a monster, and they could use it to their service, he hopes, he told Richard to go and get the crystal. As Richard got close to it, he felt it was…similar, in many ways, it's power aura was matching to his and Darkmega in many ways. When he finally reached out and grabbed it with his hands…to him, for that moment, he suddenly found himself back within that temple in his dream, with purple mist all over the place still, and the marble throne ahead of him, with the man sitting upon it, while Richard was holding the crystal.

The man spoke. "Richard…you have found the key to the next step of your destiny…you know what you have within your hands, don't you? Look deep inside yourself, and realise it is the same."

Richard closed his eyes, listening to the man…yes, yes. It was the same…the crystal held evil, darkness, greed, rage…it was a dark soul, formed into an object other then a dark chip…no, It wasn't… it was something else, it had another name…he heard it echo in his mind….Chaos Soul…..Chaos Soul…that is what he was, what this thing was…they were both Chaos Souls, made from the same energy, same darkness.

Richard looked up towards the man. "…you really do know."

"Yes Richard. I know you. A dark creation, like Darkmega, like the very thing in your hands…combine with it Richard, let it's power feed into you, increase your own, and set out. To awaken the destroyer of worlds."

"Destroyer of worlds?"

"The Chaos Soul in your hands will guide you to him. Use it's power to wake him, and tell him, it is time to begin, the end…you will be his assistant, his servant. With his help now, you will gain the next stage of power. Darkmega is still useful, but that usefulness will end shortly. Once you have woken the monster, return to Earth, and prepare yourself."

Richard had suddenly found himself back in the temple…with two cuts on his hands, and no crystal…the Chaos Soul had transformed into energy, and flowed into him during that time…he felt it's power flow inside him through those cuts, which were made by the crystal. Darkmega demanded to know what had happened, and all Richard told him was that they could now wake up the ultimate weapon, which will be their key to bringing down empires across the universe, Darkmega didn't need to hear anymore, as he was smiling evilly at the idea.

Now, their warship had stopped. And on the main screen, on the bridge of the ship, Richard and Darkmega saw the very being they were going to wake up, with both of them smirking…

There, floating in deep space, in the empty void, was a being of at least twice the size of Saturn, silent, quiet, with two massive orange coloured horns coming from the supposed front of it…and one massive hole between them, sealed shut right now…the entire thing was machine, with the colours of mainly grey, with certain parts being orange.

Darkmega looked at Richard. "So how do we wake him up?"

Richard stared at the screen…and felt like something inside had already done the job. "We don't need to."

And lo and behold, as they both look on, the centre piece begun to open up…showing that the seal was actually a ring of metal fangs, and in the centre now, was just a massive hole, leading inside, before it suddenly lit up, engulfing the warship in it's white light, blinding Darkmega and Richard for a moment. Then, they heard it's voice bellow, across the ship, and into space.

**"Welcome, Chaos Souls…You carry the sign."**

Richard couldn't see still, the light was just too much. "Who…who are you, mighty one?"

**"I, am the Unicron, Heaven's Judgement upon the universe. For millions of years, I have slept…now, once my systems have reached full power again, it is time for me to start again, on what I planned to do long ago… Destroy the universe, and those who dare stand in my way!"**

Darkmega still couldn't see, and when he could the heartless to make the ship back away from Unicron…the light had suddenly faded, and when they looked, Unicron had begun moving away himself, deeper into space slowly, heading towards a nearby sun. Richard suggested to Darkmega that they leave Unicron to his own devices for now, and head back to earth to inform Chaos about their new ally, if he is one…Demanding the planet to obey and assist them, or even attack it with one ship right now was suicide, even they knew that, and soon left this area of space, flying back to Earth X, not sure if they had done the wisest thing...

Richard knew he had though. He was gonna be fed with more power, from this beast…

Now, they had awoke a terror that caused many a battles to the great Primus, that should be never allowed to return, and now has….the planet destroyer, the supposed heaven's judgement to the universe…Unicron…

* * *

1. Unicron is based off his G1 Transformers movie look. Same for the voice. The heaven's judgement part is his own self proclaimed title.

2. Chaos Souls are just simply the true name to dark souls. They play many a vital role throughout this.

-Dragonridley


	6. A Dark Soul: The Defeat

**MATURE SCENE, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!**

* * *

It was another slow day in the hospital for Medi, as she was sitting at the computer of it. The only real good moment was when Chad returned…but that was about it, no visitors for medical needs for the last couple of hours, and you can only keep updating all the files on people for so long…

Medi looked around and sighed. she had to stay till 8 tonight, and it was 5 now…another three hours of helping Dr Light….but then she smiled to herself, she knew a way to pass the time.

She walked over to the hospital door, and above it, were black binds, designed to stop people from looking in when an operation was going on, most people stayed out when they were down, much to Medi's delight. She pulled them down, then went over to the computer chair, and sat back down, leaning back, and closing her eyes…

She began to day dream, about Quickman walking in the hospital…and needing "special" treatment…she began to kiss him…and he started to caress her breasts…in reality, she moved one hand on her left breast, rubbing it through the clothing, squeezing it every now and then, sending small little shocks of pleasure to her nether region, her cheeks flushing a little red now.

She knew she needed to go further by removing her clothing, so she can enjoy the moment. She took off her gloves, followed by her whole torso gear, which was easily taken off by the zip which appeared on the back, going all the way down. she removed the clothing, she took off her shoes as well, revealing her white skin feet, with purple nail polish. This left Medi with the underlay, which was white at the whole torso, and purple on the arms, down to the wrist, and purple on her legs, down to her feet, and had a sip which started at the neck, going all the way down to the groin area. This was ultra tight fitting, designed to assist in flexibility and act as a light defence whilst in combat…and shows off the finer points of Navi's. All Navi's which have the life program are known to have these zips for easy removal of suits.

Soon, her mind went back to it's little day dream…Quickman had got himself undressed, lifting Medi up, and put her on the medical bed, having taken most of her clothes off, leaving the inner layer…he grabbed the top of the zip…and began to pull it down, in reality, Medi was doing it, slowly, very slowly, revealing her milky skin underneath, and her large round breasts, which popped out when the zip went all the way down to her nether regions, showing her clit and small amount of purple hair above it.

She stood up, and let the entire thing fall off onto the chair, leaving her only with her helmet on, and then took that off…the red see through visor vanished, as she took off the small helmet, which was actually most of the purple part, including the back ponytail, and the white hat, with the two side parts, leaving only the front, and underneath the purple area, real purple hair, her remaining hair at the front turned real, no longer metal. It was purple shoulder length hair, which was all knotted together in two pony tails at the front, which, once she removed the golden hair bands, allowed the hair to go back into it's natural straight look.

She sat back down, and both her hands on her breasts, fondling her nipples, which quickly became erect, and squeezing them slightly, as she dreamed Quickman doing. Her senses heightened, as the pleasure was just getting more and more, slowly, one of her hands drifted away from her breasts, and reached down to her nether regions, and the moment her fingers touched on what she was looking for, she moaned slightly, as she begun to rub her clit slowly, making herself wet between the legs.

Soon, her index finger went inside her, and she moaned, allowing it to slowly go in and out, she saw Quickman doing this to her, and asking if she was enjoying it, with her just barely able to nod, as he stood over her, with her laying on the bed, his fingers playing with her clit, and his spare hand going between both her tits, squeezing them and rubbing them, giving them turns.

Then she put in another finger, and begun to speed up, rubbing inside more and more, dreaming her fingers now to be his erected member, as he finally let her have the ultimate pleasure, by standing over her, opening her legs, and plunging his manhood in, making her moan loudly his name. she keep thrusting on her own fingers, more and more, seeing him pushing his manhood deeper and deeper inside, saying her name over and over, enjoying it as much as her…

She needed it deeper…she stood up, and then bend over the computer, allowing her fingers to get more access like this, her love juice beginning to drip to the floor, as she rubbed her fingers over her pleasure points inside her vagina, dreaming of Quickman doing her from behind, the same way…until she felt it, the build up inside, the pleasure coming to a high point. She begun to moan out Quickmans name in the hospital, in her mind, Quickman just told her he was about to cum, she simply begged him to try and hold on a little more, as she was close as well, oh, so close, she was giving way… closer….closer….closer!

* * *

**MATURE SCENE END!**

* * *

"MEDI!"

Medi completely stopped at the sudden voice that broke the day dream into pieces, she puller her soaked fingers out of her pussy and quickly turned around, seeing Anna standing there, looking at Medi in annoyance, and Chad, who had turned his back away from the view, looking at the hospital door…he was smiling slightly…he didn't mind the awesome little view he got of Medi's ass and nether regions, but Anna might smack him on the back of the head for being a pervert if he dared to stay looking at her.

Anna had come with Chad in order to just get the small wounds she received healed up. In the back of her head before they walked in, she thought Medi might be up to something, thanks to the blinds being down…knocking on the door of the hospital was one thing Anna never bothered with, and seeing this is becoming a common occurrence for her.

"Medi, for the love of god, I thought me and Dr Light told you enough times never to do this while working in the hospital! You got a room! Use that when you need to get some sexual tension taken care of!"

Medi sighed, then closed her eyes, and right away, her clothing returned on her in a flash, as if nothing happened. This was a special ability only to Navi's, as they may need their battle suits at any time, they can activate it/ recall it if need be. With Navi's whilst their eyes are closed, they can access themselves, as such, Medi just activated the instant battle gear mode, so Anna would stop glaring at her being naked.

It was several minutes after this, that Anna finally sat down on a bed after scolding Medi more, and begun to let Medi check and heal her. Chad sat down nearby and looked at Anna, watching her. "So Anna, how have you been over these years? Alright?"

Anna looked at him and gave him a sweet smile. "Oh yeah, I haven't been too bad. I was very worried about you all this time though, while Darkmega was causing chaos. I thought he killed you. Where have you been for the past 2 years? Trapped in some kind of vortex?"

She gave a little laugh after saying that, but then notices the sad look on Chad's face. She hit the spot. "Oh…you…were trapped in some kind of vortex, weren't you?"

Chad sighed. "Yep. Thanks to Chaos."

Anna looked shocked. She knew Chaos as well as Chad did…and she really didn't like him. "C..Chaos? Why the hell would Chaos do that now? He hasn't been doing much lately! At all if I recall since we moved off Mobius!"

"I think he was working with Darkmega Anna, I'm not entirely sure, but he made me stay in that vortex until 2 years had come and gone."

Anna looked at him oddly. "Why two years though? I thought you just got lost somewhere or was a captive of Darkmega."

Chad shrugged. "I don't know Anna, but like we know, Chaos is a hard guy to read. We just need to be careful in case he comes back for me again, this time, I want to be ready for him."

Anna nodded in agreement…it only took Medi an hour to heal up the small wounds, and cleared Anna from the hospital. As they were leaving, heading into the main room where Zhao Yun, Pang Tong, Yuan Shao, Knuckles and Charlie were, Chad looked at her. "Say Anna…have…have you heard anything about Richard during these months? I didn't want to ask Roll since she said about missing me and him a lot, so it might have been a very delicate thing to her, and-"

Anna glared at him. "Roll saw you first?"

Chad looked a little surprised. Did something happen between her and Anna while he was gone? "Well…yeah. While you were gone. I was in the bath and she came in to see me."

This didn't seem to change Anna's look at him. "She hacked into your room huh?"

"Uhhh…yeah? Anna, she just wanted to see if it was true if I was back. Medi said about it to her."

"….I take it she saw you in the actual bath then?"

Chad was getting the hint that…he could be leading Roll into trouble here…for some odd reason he felt Anna was taking this personally…did…she like him as much as he liked her? Was this the sign he was waiting for? He had to admit to himself, if a guy went in and saw the girl he wanted in her bath, he would be acting the same. "No no! of course not Anna! She knocked on the bathroom door, I said I was in it, and she waited in my room!"

Anna looked a little relieved…he was right, she must like him! He felt happy now…the girl he wanted likes him! Surely! "Alright Chad…sorry for making it seem personal, but I would have to report Roll if she was sneaking around and going into people's rooms without asking…"

"I know Anna, but it was okay, honest. You don't need to say anything. I was glad she came in to see me, I felt actually alienated for the first few hours of being here, thanks to her updating me, I feel more comfortable…but back to my question, about Richard…"

Anna looked at Chad, grim faced. "I…I've met him on a few missions…Chad, I don't think his being controlled, he acts so willing to whatever his told to do, he must be acting of his own accord now. Maybe Darkmega had infused him with a dark chip, made a Dark Soul form inside him or something, I don't know, but mind control...no, it's not possible now. After two long years.."

Chad thought about this…okay mind control was probably out the window, but Anna's suggestion of the Dark Soul controlling him... "…It must be something Anna, maybe it is a dark chip or something, we'll find out somehow…I thought Dr Wily looked heavily saddened about the subject, now I can see why…"

As they stood in the main room, Pang Tong was waving towards them. "Hello Chad? Anna? Hey come on, I know I'm a hobo and all, but you don't have to ignore me when I wanna say hi."

Chad looked over to him, and noticed the others as well. "Oh hey everyone. Sorry, but I was busy talking to Anna."

Yuan Shao huffed. "Well, you should first greet nobles before speaking to others Chad! You normally used to when I was in your presence back in the old base! My position in the Galactic Federation has not changed-"

Chad smiled and quickly stopped Yuan Shao from continuing onwards about his noble position. "Ah sorry Yuan Shao, guess I let it slip my mind this time, especially since I only just got back. How's the high ministry side of things going?"

Yuan Shao took a moment to answer, quickly readjusting his train of thoughts from complaining to Chad to the current state of affairs. "It could be better. My fellow ministers think Keaton is plotting something in order to overthrow them, personally I think his too stupid and lowly to even think of such schemes, but then again, he has been made the grand commander of our forces, a decent position of power."

"How do they feel about this Darkmega affair?"

"They believe it is all under control, like I do. He has only taken one planet, and that hardly counts as a empire of any worthy notice."

Chad looked at him, with a slight query look. "…IS it all under control?"

The High Minister sighed a little. "Well to our view, yes. To everyone else in the Galactic Federation…no."

Chad sighed. Should've seen it coming. "Well what are we, or more precisely, the docs doing about it?"

Pang Tong spoke up. "They're still on the planning stage Chad. I'm sure they'll tell us when they finally get an idea. Seems like handling a dark soul and a psycho-like 19 year old is quite hard for two supposed great minds of this day and age."

"They'll figure something out. Anyway, it's not as if Darkmega is doing anything major right now. Especially since the GF is covering every possible route off planet Earth X." Anna said.

Boy was she wrong on that.

* * *

Two days had passed, and Darkmega and Richard had returned to Earth X, to their headquarters, the old hero base, after waking Unicron. It was dark, stormy, and pouring of rain when they landed. The GF was easy to avoid thanks to using the cloaking device. They had got into the main room of it, which had several heartless inside, waiting for them, and wanted to speak to Chaos about what they did…he was there, but as soon as they entered, he spoke first.

"We need to take a major plan of action right away."

Darkmega looked at him questionably. "Right away? We just returned from somewhere and suddenly you want us to make a plan of action without even resting? What kind of stupid plan do you want then Chaos? Because it probably won't do much anyway, thanks to the GF protecting all the nearby planets worth taking."

Chaos frowned a little. "It's not about planets, it's about the heroes…Chad has returned, I need him dealt with at once."

Richard glared at Chaos. "Chad's returned huh? So much for sealing him in a vortex until we've taken over everything as you suggested Chaos. What, did he break out somehow? Your power lacking in holding him down?"

"No, I don't know how he done it, but his free. If his allowed to live long enough, he'll make everything we've tried to form crumble apart around us. I want you both to go to planet Zebes at once and destroy him and anyone that helps him."

Darkmega glared at Chaos. "And what the hell suddenly gave you the right to order me around? The empire is named the Darkmega empire, not the Chaos empire…I suggest you learn to remember that quickly."

Chaos smirked. "But it's been my suggestions that have held this empire together, has it not? I'm not your leader, of course, as you are the leader, but, I can be seen as your…adviser, in a sense…and I know what I'm saying is correct. Chad is a threat. I want you both to go because you can outmatch him and kill him with ease. He won't be prepared for an attack when his only just got out of the vortex."

Richard thought about this for a moment, then looked at Darkmega. "Actually, it doesn't sound like a bad idea at all. We can get rid of the pest quickly, and personally, I would be happy myself if that occurred. Lets go with Chaos's suggestion for now."

Darkmega was now thinking this over…then smiled and nodded. "Yeah, alright then. Chaos, we'll go right away to planet Zebes and handle Chad, you wait right here, we'll be back before the sun sets."

When both he and Richard leave and walk down the corridors, he looks at Richard and smirks. "I know we haven't told him of Unicron, but I don't think he needs to know…"

Richard just looked on as the walked. "Oh? How come?"

Darkmega shrugged, then looked on as well. "Oh, I just think his getting a little big for his boots…his been useful, yes, but I think we don't really need him now since we've got the foundation to this empire…get the hint?"

"Backstabbing Chaos?….Meh, it wouldn't affect us much if we did, we got Unicron now, and he seems far more powerful then Chaos, alright his gonna take a little while to get ready, but his going to be raising hell when he arrives."

Soon, they got out of the base, and as they walked off towards the warship they had left nearby, Richard smirked. Thinking to himself 'Not like you'll have much use left yourself Darkmega…I know my destiny is with Unicron…you're just another tool in my rise for power.'

* * *

Keaton stood in the bridge of one of the many warships of the GF watching over the planet, around him were men on computers, scanning, watching, monitoring activates and such, with him, was Master Chief, and in front of Keaton, was a small purple floating platform, no bigger then a human hand, and on it, projected on it, was Cortana.…he didn't care for any of that right now, he was looking out of the view screen, at the planet, with his hands behind his back, watching it…

Things have gone tits up since this occurred. This problem has lasted two years, and it doesn't seem to be getting any better. Keaton has been told by the High Ministers to watch the planet, and not make a massive assault on it…why not? Keaton didn't care of how many men would be lost, he just wanted this to end so he could get back to dealing with the likes of other empires, rather then this one planet…

The High Ministers…his blood boiled at the thought of them…they made him wait. They would rather send small task forces, then one huge force to destroy everything on that planet. They were idiots, fools, a waste of space…for now, he had to comply though. He just didn't understand their logic, especially after the failing of Colonel Barrel on that planet.

Things had to change, or else the people in this empire would doubt him. Maybe that's what the High Ministers want, maybe they want him to be unfavoured by everyone so they had a reason to demote him. Perhaps they knew of his motives, he won't deny it, he wants them gone sooner or later, and truly be the head of this empire, no longer a meager grand commander, but an actual emperor.

"Grand commander?" It was Cortana speaking to him. Keaton looked at her. "I'm picking up the same radar interference that we got earlier, this time it's coming from the planet, heading into space slowly. I think we should scan it properly this time in order to know what it is, and not leave it be like the last two times it's been noted."

Keaton shook his head. "Keep the scanners aimed at the planet. As I said before, it's just Dark Megaman trying to get our attention drawn away."

Cortana sighed. "But sir, it would only take one ship to go and find out what this is, it wouldn't take-"

Keaton glared at her now, which made her go silent. "I know what I'm doing Cortana, if you question what I say again, I can and will have you deleted, is that understood?"

Cortana silently nodded. Master Chief looked at Keaton. "Sir, I don't mind a lot of things, but I'd rather you don't threaten Cortana like that. Especially with deletion."

Keaton looked back at the planet. "Cortana is just an AI Chief, she's just data, like Net Navis, they have no rights, and I can say whatever I want to them, is that clear? Unless you rather I have you court marshalled and make sure you never serve any army again? I don't like the idea since you are one of my best, but I will if it needs to be done."

Master Chief was not impressed with this answer…he could just bash the fuck out of Keaton, but he saw Cortana look at him in a 'don't do anything stupid' kind of way, and all Master Chief said was "I understand fully, sir."

The Chief was starting to understand why Dr Robotnik and Rufus are never happy working with Keaton…why most people were not happy working with him.

Dr Robotnik, Rufus…those two have been very quiet lately whilst in Midgar. They've had no reports off them for over 4 months. Keaton doesn't appear to care at all, but Master Chief knew what Rufus was like…he knew Rufus didn't like working with Keaton, maybe his going to defect, or something…whatever it is, Master Chief was easily thinking of joining in right now.

As for that odd interference, it was none other then Darkmega's warship, easily passing by the GF's fleet, as it heads off into space, and while cloaked, heading to planet Zebes…

* * *

Three days later, it was now about 5pm back on Zebes, and most of the people in the base were settling down in the food hall for dinner. On one table, was Zelda, Keira, Charlie, Samus, Zhang Liao of Earth V, and Yuan Shao.

Zhang Liao was a warrior of the Wei Kingdom of that planet. He was renowned for his abilities in raids, as well as duels. In the base, his pretty much one of Samus's drinking friends, albeit he doesn't drink much…she just lets him sit near her. She also seems to keep calling him frenchie thanks to his moustache. This little nickname has quickly flown around the base, and even those of his own kingdom now call him that most of the time.

Yuan Shao looked down at his meal, which was Roast beef with vegetables, and smiled as he looked at those at the table. "Ah, to enjoy such a fine meal, with such fine friends!"

Keira stared at him for a moment, then looked at Zhang Liao, whispering "Tell me…when…did we get classed as his 'friends'?"

Zhang Liao sighed. "Don't go there. It's whatever table he sits at, he makes everyone on there his friends…except my lord, they don't get along too well still."

This was confirmed when Yuan Shao felt a potato smack into the back of his helmet. He quickly turned and glared at the table behind him, which had Cao Cao, Liu Bei, Sun Jian of Earth V, Megaman, Lan Light and Maylu. Cao Cao had his back turned to Yuan Shao, the Minister was sure he had seen Cao Cao lower his arm and hand back to his plate. He could only grumble, then turn back to his table.

Sun Jian was the leader of the Wu Kingdom on that planet. He was bold, brave, understanding, a hero in everyone's eyes…Just now and then he likes to wear a tiger suit, to make sure everyone knows him as the 'Tiger of Jiang Dong.'…his got three kids, two of them live in the base with him…they prefer to avoid their father thanks to this little suit thing.

Liu Bei had frowned at Cao Cao. "Cao Cao, was there any need for that while we eat?"

Cao Cao sat back in his chair, looking over to the King of Shu "If I wish at any time to annoy such a friend, I can. I feel every little annoyance towards him helps make me feel more content."

"He is your friend though, as you said."

"Yes, but a friend who always seems to look down his nose at you. You should know how that feels with him too Liu Bei."

Liu Bei to admit, Yuan Shao does seem to thanks to Liu Bei's commoner status before he was the King of Shu. "Okay, that is a fair point. But must you waste food on him?"

On the other side of the table, Megaman was seen looking over at another table nearby, where Roll, Shademan, Chad, Anna, and Quickman were…his main focus was Roll, who saw him looking, and just turned back to her meal quickly, not even wanting to make eye contact.

Megaman, after all this time, still had feelings for her, even though shes turned down his advances every time, reminding him that she has no intention of going back to him.

Chad noticed Roll's sudden movement from looking at somewhere. "Hey Roll? What's the matter?"

Roll just mumbled "Megaman…", she sighed, then looked at Chad. "He still can't get over the fact it's over between us. His been asking me to go back out with him at every chance his got."

Chad nodded. "Ah, I see. I personally had hoped maybe things would've been sorted out. Heck, you two did seem like a nice couple when you were walking around the base."

"Well, I still can't forgive him over the fact he believed I would cheat on him. He kept watching all the time and especially hated when any other guy spoke to me. I don't want to go back to that."

Quickman quipped in. "That, and Megaman fails badly in the bedroom."

Anna had to add on to this. "Yeah, I sorta noticed that things had gone downhill rapidly since that night you both went to the 'next level'."

Roll nodded in agreement. She had to admit that was the start of it all…she remembered what Megaman tried to do, the one thing that was an obvious mistake when they both sat in his room, trying to set the mood…

He tried to play with them…

Sadly for him, they, don't precisely stand out.

Roll was mortified. There she was, sitting there, having Megaman feel around her chest, TRYING to find her nipples which her underneath the fabric of her clothing…the worst part was when Megaman commented it was like trying to find a needle in a haystack…she hit him, hit him good. He didn't dare try to get it on with her until past midnight, a good few hours after the first test run. She eventually allowed him to continue after he pleaded the fact they both were new to this thing.

What really bugged her was how little he knew. She had looked at stuff on the net before, even got off to it a few times, she had read up on positions and such to try and ready herself, as was Medi's suggestion.

And as we all know, his performance was far under standard for her, Lan really must of tried to avoid doing anything around that spot when Megaman was given the life program. Probably out of embarrassment, much like Maylu has been with Roll's chest. It kinda left both Navis mortified by the end of their sexual encounter.

Shademan noticed something while they were eating, the way Anna was eyeing up Chad, while he was busy looking and speaking to Roll. "I take it, Anna, you like what you see on Chad?"

Anna flushed a deep red, as Chad quickly looked at her, as did Quickman and Roll. "No no…I was just….just, ya know…checking on him."

Shademan shook his head. "You never were a good liar Anna."

Chad smiled at her, blushing slightly red. He didn't mind at all, this may as well cement his belief that she likes him, as he likes her. Roll couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy, when she saw Chad smile and go a little red, she knew Anna had tried to make everyone, for these past days since he returned, realise Chad was her man.

Besides hints that him and Anna have a high chance of hitting off, Chad was really settling into the routine of things now. Even after two years, people weren't that different, in fact, they were getting along a little better, knowing each other a little more. Chad could easily get used to this lifestyle, especially with what the planet has to offer, as the base does have tunnels that lead off the base, into the underground cavern of Norfair. Adventures outside the hologram room would certainly be a great pass time.

Then…someone, skipped into the dining hall…he was from Earth V, from the Wei Kingdom, his name, was Zhang He, also known as the 'Great poof of Wei' to the Shu and Wu officers. He was a friend Anna had gained over the last two years. They found themselves happily in common with clothing, hair styles and music. All the girls in the base are completely fine with him and the way he acts, the guys….well…not so much.

Slowly, he made his way towards Chad's table. "Ah, the day is wonderful, the people are happy, the base is working, and my beauty shines brightly!"

Chad looked at him like he was a fucking freak. Anna turned and smiled. "Zhang He! Come and sit down, we got an extra chair!"

Shademan was sitting next to her. "No we don't Ann-" Well, he was anyway, as she quickly pushed him off, making him hit the floor, as Zhang He arrived, and sat in his place. Shademan got up, grumbled, and walked off, letting it be for now. He finished his meal ages ago.

"Why, thank you Anna!" Zhang He said, smiling away at her. He then spotted Chad. "Ah, is this the boy that you keep telling me about? Chad Malyan?"

Anna nodded. "Yep, that's him." she looks at Chad. "Chad, this is Zhang He."

Chad looked at Zhang He for a moment, then looked at Anna, motioned her to get close so he could whisper, and said. "Umm…Anna…why are you hanging around with a fruitcake like him? Did I miss something over the two years?…yes, I know I missed a lot, but I don't mean it that way."

Anna frowned at him. "His just a friend Chad, one I got when you was away. His a nice person to me."

"Yeah, because you're not the same gender as him."

"The guys in the base are fine with him."

"They're fine with him because they have to be most likely. If they had another choice, they would probably run for their lives. Look Anna, I'm not sure I feel comfortable sitting on the same table as him, look, his smiling at me oddly…"

Anna looked at Zhang He, who was actually checking Chad out while smiling. Anna turned back to Chad. "Well that's because it's the first time his met you, it's not anything…homosexual, if that's what you're worried about."

Chad looked at her for a moment and decided to believe her, looking at Zhang he and smiling. "Sorry about that. Yes I am Chad. Nice to meet you. Sorry if I didn't see you before I vanished in the vortex."

Zhang He looked right into Chad's eyes. "Ah, such a pleasant boy, if you were older, I would ask if you were single. Indeed we have not met before, for during my time back at the base on Earth, I preferred to journey out to the wonderful cities of that world and-"

Chad had stopped listening after the 'if you were single' comment, looking at Anna quickly and frowning, who shrugged innocently. She can't guess right all the time.

Soon, Chad, Anna, Zhang He, Quickman and Roll all departed from the food hall, with Chad staying close to Anna, making sure Zhang He stood away from him while they walked down the corridors, heading to the main room to see if anything was going on.

Roll had followed them, but soon left the group, when she noticed Anna was purposely not letting her go near Chad like she wanted to, so she could speak to him. She stopped halfway down a corridor, and heard Shademan walk up from behind, soon standing by her. He looked at her, as she watched the others walk on, not even noticing her sudden stop. "It's only been five days since his return and you and Anna are already acting up a little."

Roll sighed, and nodded.

Shademan looked on, down the hallway. "I think Anna is going to have her way…Chad likes her, she likes him. You may as well accept that fact and look elsewhere, as much as I hate to say it."

"Yeah…I know…I just wish I could say it to him…"

"Perhaps something may go wrong between the two, that'll be when you have your chance. But until then, I think it's best to leave it be, unless you really want to lose a good friend of yours like Anna."

Roll looked down, frowning a little. "If she was a good friend.."

Shademan looked at her once more, knowing that Anna's always been uppy with people that say or even hint anything towards Chad…but that's her nature. "It's the way she is right now. Once you stop and her and Chad get on a date or something, she'll be back to her old self."

Shademan could see on her face she was turning miserable while standing there, thinking about letting Chad go still. He smiled at her. "Hey, I know that look. Cheer up, more fish in the sea. People love you in this base for who you are. There's bound to be others."

Roll sighed. "I know that Shademan…"

"Then stop looking glum. Come on, lets just go to the hologram room and have a fight with a few viruses to pass the time, hmm? Or maybe even go and see Maylu for a little while? I think she has left the food hall now."

Roll and Shademan soon walked off. Roll still couldn't help but feel down about it though, she really didn't want to let go of Chad for the moment…it feels like they really do have a connection…

* * *

Meanwhile, Chad and the others arrived in the main room. There, looking at a few computers, was Dr Yuichiro, Dr Light and Dr Wily. They were just checking if the scanner and radar were working properly, as both were picking up some kind of interference just heading into orbit of the planet.

Dr Light was the one sitting at one computer with the radar on it's screen, while his son was sitting at another with the scanner on it. Dr Wily was sitting at a third computer, trying to double check the system files to see if it's all working correctly.

Dr Wily soon checked everything, and looked at the other two. "Well, I'm stumped. The systems don't have any signs of bugs or any damage to them. It could be possible that there is a small electronic storm coming above us."

Dr Light shook his head. "No, this isn't right if that was the case, it's almost like the interference is in the shape of a vessel of some sort. A natural electronic storm wouldn't have a shape, it would be everywhere, the radar would just stop working. Right now, it's working properly, and is picking this up."

His son thought about this for a moment. "Hold on…in the shape of a ship…Father, didn't you say about some of the GF warships were due to be equipped with a cloaking device that can hide itself from detection?"

"Well that was never complete. Mikhail Cossack never had the chance to finish the workings out of it, even with the help of Neo Cortex. But the GF wanted to focus it's money elsewhere. Why do you say about it?…" he looked at the screen, it quickly added up. "…You think it's a GF warship using that cloaking technology?"

Dr Yuichiro nodded. Wily thought this over now. " Well, that is possible, but I don't see why the GF would want to spy on us like that…"

Chad walked over to them, with Anna and Quickman, while Zhang He sat down on one of the chairs. "Hey Docs. What's up?"

Dr Light turned his chair and gave Chad a smile. "Nothing Chad. We think the GF is spying on us right now, that's all. When we tell Yuan Shao, I'm sure he'll tell them to-"

"Thomas! A being just teleported to the surface! It's…oh crap…" Dr Wily seemed shocked over the readings of who it was.

Yuichiro had to explain to his father. "It's Richard, his on the surface of the planet right now, his not near the entrance, but he isn't too far off, about 3 miles away to the north of here."

Anna was shocked. "Richard? What the hell is he doing here? I've never seen him leave Earth X since the day they took the base over!"

"Well something's set him off, and his here now, looking for something…most likely the entrance to our base."

"His got to be mental. What? Is he gonna try and attack all of us?" Quickman decided to joke about.

Dr Wily looked to him. "Knowing my grandson, with that sword of his, yes. That would be a possible thing he would try. His very confident of his abilities."

Chad felt something…an urge…someone, or something, was making him feel that he had to be out there, he had to find Richard and face him. He couldn't explain it, there was just an urge… "Docs, I'll go and be the welcome wagon. You guys stay put. I can match Richard easy, and he knows it. I bet even with him being controlled like this, I can take him down and get him back."

Anna didn't want to hear that. "Chad, no! You've only got back! Let's just hide this out for now, it's not like he'll get through the door!"

Chad looked at her. "I can handle him. Richard is being controlled, maybe an ass kicking will wake him up from that."

"You still think his being controlled? Chad, I told you that Richard is acting out of his own accord!" She did say that to him, on the second day of his return. She said that Richard was completely evil now, and his not being controlled in any way, it's his own mind, his own will. But Chad chose to keep what the doctors believe…it's a dark chip fucking around with his mind. that's all it has to be.

"Anna, I'm going out there. Everyone stay put." Chad turned to the exit, and ran out of the place, before Anna could grab his arm, before anyone could speak to him again.

Dr Wily sighed. "I'm getting the feeling this rashness is going to be a common problem…Don't you agree Ann-" Then, he noticed Anna leaving quickly as well.

Quickman was the one sighing now. "Oh Boy…Look Docs, we'll be back shortly, okay?" And he departed as well…leaving Zhang He baffled at what's going on, and the Docs sitting there…

Dr Light looked at the computer screen showing the radar, and said to himself, as he saw three dots run towards the single one. "Be safe…Chad, Anna, Quickman…"

* * *

Richard stood on the muddy ground of Zebes…the dark clouds overhead promised rain, but none had come down yet. The Dark Wolf rested in it's case, glowing a slight purple aura, waiting for combat, blood to run down it's blade..

Richard was thinking of where to start searching for the hero base. The warship picked up life forms underground, thing is, he needed to find the entrance, which looked like it wasn't going to be easy to locate.

Lucky for him, he didn't need to do anything…the Dark Wolf felt the presence of the Blade of Darkness. Richard looked behind him…and nearby, watching him, was Chad.

"Well, I should of guessed you would come and see me pal…so Chad, how have you been after two long years?"

"…Richard…something's possessed your mind. Don't make me kill you to stop you…"

Richard smiled and laughed a little, before turning around to face Chad. "Chad…maybe you should think about this…maybe you should come with me and Darkmega…I've been sent to kill you, but you'll be much more useful alive then dead…you had skill back then, skill that caught me by surprise. We can put it to good use, by giving you a dark chip."

Chad clenched his fist. "Join you!…Join those working with Chaos…Join those that want to kill the people of the base…Richard, your being controlled. I would never join the likes of those that make others forcefully work for them!"

Richard closed his eyes, and folded his arms across his chest. "Well, at least I tried, it was nice meeting you again." he turned around, and started walking off.

"….." Chad relaxed a little, guessing that Richard wasn't going to attack him…that proved to be a bad mistake, as Richard had suddenly used an area steal chip to vanish, and reappear right in front of Chad, looking at him, eyes open, and hand suddenly grabbing Chad's throat, and slowly lifting him off the ground. Chad could feel the grip getting tighter and tighter. Richard was more powerful now then the last time they met, Chad understood that clearly now…his power…he felt the darkness around Richard, as his feet left the ground. "gga…ugh…urk.."

Richard was giving an evil smirk, as he choked Chad. "Don't ever let your guard down."

Chad tried to raise a fist to punch Richard and make him let go, but he felt his strength fade away fast.

"Shame you refused the offer…this is the quickest death I can give you Chad, be thankful you don't have to suffer torture beforehand. Heh…" He was gonna win already. Chad couldn't even make a fight back like this, it was all going to be over so quickly…until Richard heard the click of a gun, and a bullet being fired from behind him. He quickly used his spare hand to trigger a barrier chip for him and Chad, and stop the bullet, before disabling it, and turning around a little, to see the daring person…standing there, in the distance, with her pistol aimed at Richard, was Anna.

This distraction made Richard weaken his death grip on Chad slightly. "Well well…sweet little Anna…"

She kept her gun aimed right at Richard's head. "Let go of Chad you bastard!"

Chad looked at her, horrified, as Richard was smiling evilly at her now. His strength was picking back up now. "ANNA!" he looked at Richard, and with all his might, he kicked him, right in the stomach, making Richard wheeze, and drop Chad. Chad didn't let this moment slip, by changing into his red hedgehog form, and quickly running over to Anna, stopping beside her, and turning towards Richard once more, getting his Blade of Darkness ready, as Richard was recovering from the unexpected blow.

Richard soon was standing tall again, getting the Dark Wolf out. Anna quickly fired a few bullets, but this time, Richard used his blade to deflect them away with ease, and soon began to walk towards them both, keeping his blade at the ready. "You should of stayed inside the base Anna, now you'll die.."

Chad had moved himself to stand in front of Anna, blocking her from Richard's view, as he was getting closer. He had the Blade of Darkness ready, but he couldn't…he knew he had to stop Richard, but is attacking him the answer? "Stay away from her Richard! Or else!"

"Move it worm!" Richard had suddenly ran at Chad, swinging the Dark Wolf to spilt his skull open. Chad raised the Blade of Darkness in an attempt to block, and done so, just, he became unstable for a moment though after, and Richard took this chance to elbow Chad in the right hand side of the face, making him stumble sidewards and fall to the muddy, moist ground. "You can watch Anna die first Chad!"

Anna quickly fired a bullet from her pistol, and it was stopped again by a barrier, even at this range…she was scared, as Richard was looking at her, the barrier gone, and raised his sword high up in the air…she was frozen stiff on the spot, unable to think.

Chad looked at her, as he was getting himself back up. "Anna, run!"

She couldn't. Chad had to close his eyes, fearing for the worst, as he noticed the Dark Wolf falling down towards her…only for the sound of it clashing with something else other then flesh. He opened his eyes and found Quickman standing before Anna, with a wide sword battle chip activated, the blue glowing blade holding off the Dark Wolf, as Richard glared at Quickman in anger. Quickman just smiled at him, before kicking Richard away from them. "Sorry to burst your bubble Richie, but Quickman's here to save the day!"

Chad smiled in relief, and got himself back up and over to where Anna and Quickman were, just as Richard got ready once again. "So Chad's little Navi decides to join the party.."

Chad looked at Anna, as Quickman stayed ready with the wide sword. "Anna, get back for now, we'll handle this, okay?"

"But…"

"Anna, I can't fight if you're in danger, please, just stay back. You know what it's like for me when your tried to fight with me against Chaos."

She was mostly the reason Chaos got away, Chaos beat Chad so often and why Chaos was allowed to run rampart on their planet at one point, it wasn't her fault though. She was only doing what she thought was right, helping Chad, she didn't realise she was being more of a hindrance.

She understood this time though, and moved back, just wishing for Chad and Quickman to be careful, as they focused on Richard again. Chad got ready once again with the Blade of Darkness…Richard was not going to back down, that was obvious, so there was only one choice open for him. "…Looks like it's going to have to be a fight. Maybe defeating you will make you break free from control…"

Richard smiled. "Fine by me. Don't get bitchy if you die!"

* * *

Inside the base, within one of the rooms. Roll and Shademan were seen sitting on a double bed, with Maylu next to Roll. Roll chose to see her operator, rather then do some virus fighting. Maylu was really trying to make her feel better, and try to get Roll's mind off getting updates to make herself look more attractive.

But Roll had been quiet for a little while now…she felt something…something was happening, she couldn't understand it, but she knew…Maylu and Shademans voices had been dulled out, as she begun to think of Chad again. He was being hurt…something was hurting him.

Maylu was now just talking to Shademan. "Well I don't know why Roll's got so depressed about herself. She used to never care about all that back a few years ago."

Shademan thought for a moment. "Hmm…perhaps that Medi has been saying things to her about the people here. If you've noticed, Roll has been only concerned about her size since shes spent more time here alone. Most likely Megaman isn't helping her either."

"She needs to spent more time with other girls besides Medi and Anna. Maybe…Roll? How about you come visit Zelda, Keira and Diao Chan with me later?" That's when Maylu noticed Roll's phasing out. "…Roll? Are you okay?"

Roll then felt it…Richard…she looked towards the door, and got up off the bed, with a look of worry.

"Roll?"

Roll looked at her operator. "Maylu, Chad's in trouble. Richard's fighting him on the surface!"

Shademan stood up now, surprised. "You serious? How do you know this?"

"I just do! Shademan, we need to help him! Come on!" Without letting her OP or Shademan respond, she ran to the door, opened it, and left. Shademan just simply followed her, without questioning.

* * *

Two on one. You'd think that would guarantee a victory anyday…

Quickman yelled in pain, as he flew backwards in the air, and slammed into the ground on his back, his Navi gear damaged heavily now, especially after that shot from the program advance, zeta cannon. Richard wasn't holding back on these two. He had every battle chip at his beck and call, including dark chip versions of them all, and was using them to the best of their ability. Chad had now just smacked into the ground, face down, after being hit with a dark cannon shot in the back. The cannon simple eerie purple one, a single shot had the power of 500 shots from a normal one.

Anna had hid herself over behind one of the rock formations close by in order to stay clear of the fighting and not get in the way…she hadn't bothered to check on it, betting that Chad and Quickman would easily win.

Chad soon lifted his face off the dirt, and looked at Quickman, who was near him. "O…Okay…when did we lose control of this?"

Quickman turned his head, looking at Chad, as Richard landed nearby, smirking, with a cyber sword ready. "I guess we did when we dodged the first attack and you said 'Ha! This is gonna be easy!'. It sort of fell apart from there."

Richard smirked at them both. "Come on, 5 minutes into a fight, and I already have you guys crawling on the ground!"

Chad heard this, and glared darkly, before getting up, and spinning on the ground, preparing to ram Richard whilst in the hedgehog form. This was just plainly pointless, as Richard was a fast thinker, and just as Chad launched himself at Richard, Richard used an area steal to dodge Chad, and as the red hedgehog rolled by, Richard formed a dark cannon again on his arm, and fired it, just as Chad stopped and got out of the ball form, and got hit in the back by the energy shot, smacking back in the ground, face first again…this dirt was becoming rather a common taste in Chad's mouth now.

Quickman made his move, getting up, and forming a long sword, then running right at Richard, ready to swing it. Richard heard him come, disabled the dark cannon, and turned to Quickman, and moments before he could attack, Richard got the Dark Wolf out, put the tip of it towards the ground, and moved to the side, swinging his blade upwards from the ground as he did…he timed it perfectly. As Quickman shot by, swinging his long sword downwards at where Richard was, the Dark Wolf had avoided the long sword, came up, and actually sliced off Quickman's arm, which had the sword.

The severed arm hit the ground, and since it was mere data, it broke apart and dissolved away into nothing, now being broken off from it's main body. Quickman stumbled after running by Richard, and fell to his knees, his remaining hand holding over the point where the arm was gone, not blood flowing out, but fragments of data, which is the net Navi version of blood, gritting his teeth to try and not yell out from the pain.

Chad had got himself back up again, and looked over to Quickman, to see the damage, and Richard walking towards Quickman from behind, ready to make a finishing blow. Chad wasn't gonna let his Navi die, and jumped into the air, and turned into his ball form again, spinning, and performed the homing attack, flying right at Richard, who, on the last second, simply sidestepped Chad, just missing the red ball blur.

Chad landed, and quickly got his Blade of Darkness out, as Richard was now behind him, ready hack into his head. Chad turned and used his blade to block, and this time, HE kicked Richard back, winding Richard a little, and stunning him, as Chad took this chance and fired a chaos beam at Richard, the energy hitting him and making him fly back and hit the floor. Chad performed the homing attack again, determined to not let up, and flew at Richard, as he laid on the ground. The Chaos Soul carrier wasn't going to just wait though, and rolled to one side, just missing Chad's feet, as the boy wanted to stomp on him. Richard used an area steal, and moved a few feet away from Chad, before forming a dark zeta cannon, and aiming it at Chad. The cannon was quickly charging up, as Chad turned and saw. Richard smirked. "Say goodbye Chaddy boy!"

Quickman watched the dark weapon reach it's maximum charge…then, a horde of bats suddenly rush around Richard, breaking his concentration, and actually made him disable the cannon, so he could use his Dark Wolf to get the little pests, which quickly flew away the moment he disabled the dark zeta cannon, and seemed to form together nearby…into Shademan. He looked at Richard, as Richard looked at him, both silent…then Richard just smirked, and got a super Vulcan out, a golden arm minigun, and pointed it at Shademan, when he yelled out, and felt something stab into his left shoulder from behind…he looked, and saw a pink arrow embedded, making him bleed…

"…Heh, and I thought you didn't want to hurt me…Roll…that's what you said two years ago…" Richard turned, and saw her in the distance, with her arm cannon ready, with another roll arrow, she looked determined, especially after seeing that he was going to kill Chad and Shademan just then.

"Richard, back off. I will fight you if I have to, if you attack those that used to be your friends!"

Richard gave her an eerie pleasant smile. Shademan stayed ready to attack, while Quickman was still trying to recover from the loss of his arm, and Chad had finally realised that his life was no longer flashing before his eyes. "Used to be Roll…Used to be…it's the same with you. Now…shall we see how long that fragile body can last?"

Shademan didn't wait when he heard this. He flew at Richard and raised one of his claws, ready to gash the kid, when Richard simply formed a dark mini bomb, which was a purple edition, and far, far more powerful to it's counterpart, and tossed it behind him, where Shademan was coming from…the bomb hit, and sent Shademan crashing to the floor.

Richard then formed the super Vulcan again, and this time aimed it at Roll. She fired her roll arrow, and Richard simply leaned to the side, to let it fly by, and Roll found herself being targeted again. She knew she was inferior by far in combat when it came to the likes of Richard, she was scared of what was about to happen…Richard's evil smirk suggested he was going to love making her suffer…

That moment, when Chad saw the situation, he felt a burst of energy inside himself at that moment, and fired a chaos beam at Richard…this beam though, had a lot more power behind it then before, and Richard was sent to the ground, not even expecting it, and felt some real decent pain this time, his arm especially, since that's where the beam mainly hit, as he landed in the dirt sidewards. He soon got himself up, glaring at Chad. "You're not gonna quit so easily, are you? You had a chance of fleeing just then!"

"And let you hurt everyone? Sorry Rich, but I'm gonna stop you!" Chad fired the Chaos beam again, and this time Richard was ready, and sidestepped it, before using an area steal, and appearing before Chad, with the Dark Wolf coming down. Chad got his blade of darkness, and with sudden ease, easily blocked the blade, shoved it aside, and swung his weapon at Richard, and actually stabbed into Richard's left side, making him yell in pain, and stumble back from the attack, blood flowing. This had suddenly backfired. Everything was going smoothly until now, now Chad seemed to have more power then mere moments ago.

Richard had not suffered a bad wound before, and it shock of it was showing clearly, as he acted a little stunned about the hit, before he got back to his battle stance, with the Dark Wolf in hand. "Alright Chad…lucky shot, but it still isn't over…"

Chad was surprised. He could see the wound clearly, and it was letting blood stain Richard's clothing, and even dip to the floor. "Your going to continue fighting like that? Richard! Come to your senses! Darkmega is gonna get you killed! Fight the control!"

Chad heard a voice suddenly behind him, right behind him. "Actually…I won't get him killed…I think it's my turn now." Chad spun around, swinging his Blade of Darkness, and it clashed, with a dark cyber sword, glowing an eerie dark purple…and standing right before him was Darkmega, his red eyes locked with Chad's, smirking evilly, with the glow of the dark cyber sword on his face…

They both stood silent, their blades connected, both so close to each other…Richard silently took this moment to teleport away to recover, back on the cloaked warship. Quickman had finally stood up, still wounded, looking at what's going on. Roll had quickly gone over to Shademan and helped him stand up, and Anna had finally showed herself from behind the nearby rocks, to see what's happening, horrified that Darkmega himself was here now, instead of Richard.

Chad was the first to speak. "Roll, get yourself, Shademan, Anna and Quickman back to the base, I'm grateful you tried to help, but I need to handle this alone. I don't need to see another injury like Quickman's got."

Darkmega just kept his eyes locked on Chad's "Good idea, leave us alone so I can kill you one on one, would make your death more fun. Idiot, what makes you think you can beat me alone? I'm no pushover."

"And nor am I, which makes us even then. Guys, GO!"

Anna had left first, knowing not to say otherwise. Shademan led Quickman away, back to the base, and Roll was a little hesitant, before following them…leaving Darkmega and Chad alone, in the middle of a wasteland, thunder booming overhead…

Darkmega spoke to him, as he slowly moved his blade towards Chad, making Chad push back with his weapon. "You got a lot of confidence for a guy that missed two years…but I can feel why…there's something about you…something that Chaos is concerned about…tell me, why won't you join me, why save the universe from it's certain downfall, when you can rule it beside me? We can crush your enemy Chaos, destroy the weak, and dominate everything."

Chad smirked. "No thanks. Because I'm not a power hungry psycho. Why should I rule it? I prefer to live peacefully in it, with all my friends, and make sure people who are power hungry psychos like yourself, end up dead!"

He gave his all in pushing Darkmega away with his sword, breaking their deadlock, before taking a swing sidewards. Darkmega ducked. Chad tried downwards. Darkmega dodged to the side. Chad tried to swipe him diagonally, Darkmega simply jumped back to avoid it, still smirking, disabling his dark cyber sword, and forming a dark cannon. "My turn.". The energy shot that came out of it, sent Chad reeling backwards, and smacking into the ground. He leapt back up…and found that Darkmega had disappeared from where he was.

Chad felt a shot of the dark cannon hit him from behind, and sent him back down to the ground. He cursed under his breath, and jumped up again, looking behind him, and noticing Darkmega was gone again…Chad didn't need to make much guesswork, as he fired a chaos beam in front of him…hitting nothing, as he looked…he was confused for a moment, before feeling a shot hit his right side, knocking him back down again, in pain. Even with his ability to endure attacks like this, he has limits. Darkmega was standing nearby, with the dark cannon pointing at Chad. He used several area steals to keep catching Chad unawares. Unlike Richard, Darkmega was abusing them, for as soon as Chad even started to look the way Darkmega was, he used another area steal, and disappeared from Chad's view, going behind him. Oh how easy it was to use a battle chip that pretty much teleports you from one place to another.

But Chad knew how to handle battle chip spammers…as he got up, he quickly fired a chaos beam behind him, and Darkmega of course, used another area steal to dodge, and go to the side of Chad. Chad then formed a hi cannon battle chip, and fired it to his left, then right, making Darkmega use another area steal, and go back behind Chad. But as he was about to fire his dark cannon, Chad turned and fires his cannon again, making Darkmega use an area steal once more to dodge. Chad waited, then turned and fired behind himself again, making Darkmega move once more. "You can't teleport around all day Darkmega! All Navis have energy limits with the battle chips, and with the way you're going, your reserves are going to be drained completely dry soon!"

Darkmega knew the little red hedgehog asshole was right, he could feel that his tactic of surprise attacks was just being wasted now, as his energy reserves for battle chips was quickly disappearing. He formed a dark cyber sword while still leaping around, then suddenly stopped nearby, behind Chad, who turned and fired his hi cannon. Darkmega just moved himself to avoid the shot, then ran at Chad, ready to slice him in half.

Chad quickly got rid of the hi cannon, and got his Blade of Darkness, and blocked the attack. He then tried to attack back, but Darkmega was quick to defend himself, and they both got into a deadlock again. Chad pushed with everything he had, and was able to push Darkmega back, breaking the lock. Then he tried to swing his weapon again at the dark Navi.

Darkmega decided to get serious, as he just moved back from the sharp end of Chad's sword, and formed a dark giga cannon, aimed, charged it up, as Chad finally noticed it, and fired a huge burst of orange energy, actually engulfing Chad completely, as he screamed in agony. The firepower of a giga cannon is serious business, and a dark giga cannon was designed to be even more powerful…Chad was fucked by this attack.

The length of this bright energy beam could be seen flying across the landscape, disappearing into the distance…and after it faded, Chad was seen several miles away from where he was…back on the ground, on his stomach, turned back into his human form. His clothes severely damaged, some of his skin burnt, and a little blood dribbling from his mouth…his entire body felt like someone just stabbed him thousands and thousands of times over, he could barely move. His sword was stabbed into the ground nearby, as the rain began to pour onto the planet once more.

Chad looked at his blade, and weakly tried to reach out for it. 'come on' he thought to himself. 'I can do this…I HAVE to do this…I can't just give up. That was one attack. One small attack…alright, not small, but it still was one…I can't just…give…up…' he couldn't reach his weapon. He couldn't move his body. He lowered his arm, and stopped trying for the moment. He needed to focus on moving his body, and fast, in case Darkmega comes.

He just stared at his blade, the rain running down his hair and face, blurring his vision slightly…the feeling of doom was looming, he knew Darkmega would come this way soon. Time was running out, and he couldn't even get himself to sit up. He felt weak now…then…he noticed someone slowly walking over, to his blade…

Not Darkmega though, it was the old man from Wu Zhang Plains, Zuo Ci…It was slow, everything seemed slow to Chad. The old man, as he could tell, was now before the Blade of Darkness…gently grabbed the hilt, and pulled it from the earth. Then, he slowly came towards Chad…and Chad noticed him bending down slightly…he forced his eyes to look up, and saw the face of Zuo Ci, looking down at him with a kind smile, and gently putting the hilt of the Blade of Darkness into Chad's hand, making sure his fingers were tightly wrapped around it.

He heard the man whisper something to him. "Now Chad, Now, your adventure begins, with the defeat of Darkmega…trust your heart, your feelings, and it will give you the power to defeat this darkness you face, in one, small, blow…"

Chad blinked, and Zuo Ci was gone, the blade in his hand, and feeling revitalised, as he heard Darkmegas footsteps now, coming towards him. He could hear Darkmega laughing, saying something about Chaos worrying over a weakling…Chad was pissed off at this remark…he felt something now…a new power, energy flowing into him from his fury. He was going to show Darkmega why Chaos was defeated by him so often…

Darkmega was soon upon him, with the dark giga cannon aiming down at him, charging up. "Well Chad, I'll first get rid of you, then I'll pick off everyone else on this planet, then I'll get rid of that old enemy of yours, Chaos….Then I'll make this entire universe, with our new weapon, bow to us…and no one, nothing, will stop me…shame you're not gonna be around to see it."

Chad clenched his swords hilt as tight as possible…and then, he used the other version of chaos control. You had the beam…then the teleport ability. In a flash of green light, he suddenly vanished for a second from Darkmega's view, stunning the dark Navi, and then before him within the next second, was Chad, standing up, swinging the Blade of Darkness down onto the dark giga cannon…the blade cut the weapon in half, data flowing out in moments, making Darkmega yell in pain, and stumble back.

Darkmega quickly tried to disable the damaged cannon, but when battle chips are damaged, they take a few moments more to disable…and this was enough time for Chad to form this bright red ball of chaos energy in his hands…Chad didn't know where it came from inside him, but it was there, just waiting for this moment…chaos energy, more then he could ever muster before, waiting to be unleashed. It flowed from his emotions…his will to save his friends, to defeat Darkmega…and live long enough to finally go out with Anna.

Chad smirked at Darkmega, as Darkmega looked at him, finally disabling the dark giga cannon, and noticing the ball of energy. Chad shot his hand forward, with the ball of energy, pointing right at Darkmega. "Die you miserable bastard! CHAOS! CONTROL!"

The red ball of energy fired out as the beam…but this beam was massive, enough to swallow Darkmega whole, and rip up the ground before Chad, roaring across the wasteland before him, dragging Darkmega with it, as he screamed out, which slowly went silent. The beam flowed on, and on, and when Chad stopped it…everything was quiet…Darkmega was gone…where the Dark Navi once was, was now just a crater of where the beam ripped by that spot, it was almost a trench, going for miles.

That very moment, ended the hopeful Darkmega empire. On Earth X, the heartless simply scattered themselves and disappeared into nothing, no longer with a leader. Chaos could've taken control of them, but he was nowhere to be seen…the hero base was empty, the planet itself, fell silent of any life… only those on the warship stayed, thanks to Richard being on board…and thankfully, that ship stayed cloaked, and slowly left orbit of the planet, so it would no longer have the chance of being detected. The heartless on there, while Richard was recovering, knew it would be better to retreat to the void of space.

Chad stood there, with his hand still pointing at the same spot, with the rain going down all over him…but he didn't mind. He done it…he defeated Darkmega…he relaxed himself, put his Blade of Darkness away, and got the com-link out. "Dr Light?"

Dr Light responded. "Chad! Are you okay!? Anna said that you were just face to face with Darkmega, and the radar picked up another life form near you, and now it's gone! What happened?"

"Nothing much, I'm just…" looks at his torn clothing and burnt skin. "Half dead."

"What about Darkmega?"

"From what I can see after the attack I pulled…" Chad looks around…nothing…no hint of Darkmega remaining. "All dead."

He heard Dr Light sigh in relief. "Well done Chad, perhaps now things will get back to normal. You actually defeated him. You should certainly give yourself a pat on the back, for what you did, we can possibly go back home now. This is one piece of news I must tell everyone. What of Richard, by the way?"

Chad went quiet for a moment…then simply replied. "I don't know. His gone for now."

"…Oh…well, hopefully now his out of the control, he'll return to Earth, still, well done Chad, you done what we thought would not-" Suddenly, the com-link began to act up. "-Possible-Anna-Chad?-" Then, it just went dead.

Chad was worried. "Doc? Doc!? Damnit man! If I find out you scientists have been playing around with these things, I'll-" He stopped…He heard something land behind him…something big, he slowly turned. "-kill…you…."

…There, before him, was Phantom, the lava creature staring right at him with it's numerous blue eyes, which then glowed red. It's body was turning every drop of rain that hit it into steam in mere moments. "Recess time is over now, boy! This time, I won't let you off so easily! They failed to kill you, so I'll do the job for them!" He laughed evilly, as a scorpion like tail, made of pure lava, unfolded from his back, and shot forward, the tip stabbing into the ground where Chad was, before he decided to quickly jumped back, not believing his luck.

"Oh, you got to be fucking kidding me!"


	7. A Dark Soul: Second Chance

Fresh pain had been felt in Chad's stomach and chest, as the rock made claw wiped him aside once again, after attempting to stab the monster in the face with his Blade of Darkness.

Twenty minutes had come and gone when this fight began…

Soon Chad found himself yelling in pain, as a fireball hit, and exploded on him, sending him to the muddy ground, the cold muck on his entire back, as he looked, and saw Phantom slowly come towards him, he quickly got up, and prepared to try another attack, as thunder is seen flashing in the sky, the rain going on.

As it was obvious, Chad hasn't fared well in this battle. Phantom is on an entirely different level compared to him.

Chad once again was sent flying back, a least several dozen feet, before slamming into the ground one more time. The mud had covered him at this point, and the pain was all over, as he just got himself back up, and saw phantom coming towards him…the being also had magic, as it had just cast lightning on him…it was powerful, just like everything else this thing throws at him.

Chad tried to keep his mood up, by giving a smirk as Phantom slowly drew closer. "Not bad. You got some good moves there, for a random creature I've only met twice."

Phantom chuckled. "This is only a taste boy…you can't even damage me with the power you have at this moment. You're nothing more then trash to me."

Chad knew this was true, with the way this was turning out. His tried everything his got, including several battle chips and two program advances, but nothing seems to even budge this huge asshole. He was cold, wet, hurt, damn sure he was bleeding somewhere on his left leg, and his clothes were damaged, torn and burnt slightly. That power boost he had against Darkmega seemed to have simply died away now, and he can't even contact anyone to help him, as his com link was dead. Running was out of the question, as this creature, no matter how slow it looks, could actually teleport from one place to another, easily blocking his route with itself, and several bits of magic.

He soon noticed Phantom stopped, and was charging up a fireball in it's mouth, ready to blast him away again. Chad attempted to jump to avoid the shot, but Phantom has the uncanny trick of holding the fireball for longer periods if need be, and firing them at the best timing, for this one, just as Chad reached the top of his jump. The fireball launched at blinding speeds, and smacked into Chad, causing yet another explosion, and Chad hitting the ground, face first…that was it. Chad was exhausted, that attack finally did him in. He was hoping Zuo Ci might return or something…but nothing, as he slowly closed his eyes, the blackness of the world taking him in…

Phantom knew all these attacks would wear Chad down, and knew this was the moment to finish him, he begun charging up another fireball, ready to destroy Chad…when Chad disappeared into thin air, teleported away. Phantom had fired the fireball, but it simply exploded on the mud outline of where Chad was.

The lava being snarled, and looked around…the one responsible was nearby, to the left of him, a mere dozen feet away…Griffon, once again arrived to save the day.

Phantom was not happy with seeing his enemy. "You again! Can't you fly off!? I have a destiny in which to stop!"

Griffon growled, and opened his wings slightly, getting ready to fly at Phantom, and attack with everything he had. "MUST you keep trying to intervene with these things!? Chad's destiny must continue Phantom! I will not allow you to stop it!"

Once again, both of them clashed, but as for Chad…

* * *

Chad felt cold…it felt like his back was in water…cold air, around him…he couldn't seem to open his eyes either. He knew he was awake again, but his body felt like it didn't have the energy to do anything.

He heard small splashes in the water, as if someone is walking towards him…he felt the ripples hit against his face, and soon, something stopped right near him. As soon as the thing spoke, he knew the voice…Zuo Ci.

"Chad…You have defeated Darkmega, but he was the first, and simplest one of the evil's, in which are coming to this universe."

Chad sighed. "Great…I take it that huge thing that kicked my ass is one of them?"

"No Chad. That, was Phantom. A summon."

"…A what?"

"A summon, Chad. A being that serves the likes of me and others. Phantom is from a being that wishes to stop what you must do."

"What am I supposed to do Zuo Ci? Am I the actual person to kill these guys, or what? Because I felt I was only lucky with Darkmega because of you."

"I cannot say…you will understand when we meet again properly. For now, I aim to stop Phantom, while you handle the next darkness…and remember Chad…people can redeem themselves, with another chance."

"What's that got to do with anything?"

Then Chad suddenly heard a new voice answer his question…the voice of Dr Light. "What's what, got to do with anything Chad?"

Chad now felt himself on something Cold…metal…he finally had the energy to open his eyes, to see Dr Light looking right at him, in concern.

"Chad? Are you all right?"

Chad quickly sat up, making Dr Light move back a little, and found himself to be in the hospital of the Zebes base. On one of the medical beds. Medi was seen nearby, typing away at the hospital computer, and Quickman was on a bed nearby his, with his arm still missing, and by the looks of it, shut down for the moment. Chad then looked down at himself…he was bloody, battered, torn, and covered in mud.

Dr light coughed a little, so Chad would look at him. "I was just planning to heal those wounds Chad, and then get Medi to clean you up. You look like you had a terrible fight with Darkmega, it's lucky you were able to get yourself back to the hospital room before blacking out…which baffles me as to how you did, as you didn't use the teleport, since we suddenly lost contact of you and your whereabouts…"

Chad sighed. " I wish I could say doc, but I have no idea how I managed either. I just…did."

All Chad did from there, was lay back on the bed and let the doc do his job of healing him, barely listening to the man, thinking back to Phantom and Zuo Ci…something else was going on, something bigger then what actually has been going on…

* * *

In the main room, sitting around, was Anna, Zhang He, Shademan, Dr Wily, Roll, Yuan Shao, Pang Tong and Xiahou Dun. It had been 3 hours since Chad was back, and he was still being fixed up by Dr Light, along with his Navi Quickman.

They had been mainly saying about after Wily had called Keaton about Darkmega, and Keaton informing them that he will contact them as to when it's all clear for them to return to Earth X.

Right at this very moment though, It was awkward for Anna. As she knew, if Roll didn't arrive with Shademan to help Chad, he could have been a goner…she looked at Roll and smiled slightly. "Hey Roll? Listen…thanks for giving Chad a hand earlier, if it weren't for you and Shademan…"

Roll just gave her a smile. "It's no problem Anna. We're friends right? We have to look out for each other."

Anna smiled a little bit more now. "Yeah, friends."

Yuan Shao, right now, was despairing over the fact they could leave. "All this money, wasted…I knew I should of only rented us a few dozen apartments on some backwater planet."

Pang Tong looked at him. "whaddaya talking about? Zebes IS a backwater planet, ya know…you just decided to be so kind as to make some shelter for us, and we're all very glad that you did, and so will all the little critters that will flood in when we leave."

Yuan Shao give him such a nasty glare at that. All Pang Tong did was shrug at it, as if saying 'What? It's true.'

Dr Wily, meanwhile, was sitting at a computer in the main room, seemingly in deep thought about something. Darkmega was defeated…why couldn't he shake the feeling that wasn't the end of it? His grandson is still on the loose, that could be why. He sat back in his seat, and heard someone walk to next to him, the one eyed warrior, Xiahou Dun.

"Is there anything wrong, Dr Wily?" He asked.

"…I'm not sure. To be honest with you. I'm not sure…"

* * *

The empty void of space…endless…cold….Richard found himself floating in it, with no planets nearby, simply adrift. He was breathing, still alive, when he should've suddenly died.

He slowly looked around…no, nothing around but himself. His main question was how did he get here? Followed by why can he breathe?

Both questions were about to be answered, as he suddenly felt like he was being watched. He quickly spun round, and before him, was Unicron, in his planet form still, the light from his mouth covering Richard.

**"Richard Wily. I see you still live, compared to the other one****…****"**

"..Unicron…where is this?"

**"This, is an illusion. I have simply connected to your mind, to speak with you. There is someone****…****above, that has suggested, I grant you specific powers, before my arrival****…****"**

Richard looked surprised. "Someone, above?"

**"You are to be my assistant. To serve me in my mission of destruction. To make sure I have your loyalty, I grant you the power to command****…****the power to control others, specifically, a race of creatures, that are both powerful, and very effective."**

Richard felt a rush of energy inside him, new power…he felt refreshed, recharged…and inside, he could feel a small lump, on his spine…but it didn't hurt, even if he could feel it connected to his nerves…his flesh and bone…he looked at Unicron, hoping for an explanation…he got one without asking.

**"Tell me, Richard Wily, you know of the Zerg race, don't you?"**

Richard went silent, looking at Unicron.

The Zerg race was one of the more dangerous races to exist in this universe. They work in a hive like matter, having a chain of command. Zerg are known for aggression towards other races and using numbers to swarm their enemies. It seems they originate from the planet Char, which is closely watched by several Galactic Federation space stations.

The Zerg once dominated much of galaxy, almost close to controlling everything, but time, wars between themselves, and the Protoss of the past, drove them down to nothing more then a handful of planets. Zerg are closely related to the Borg race that is close to the United Federation of Planets. They assimilate beings via infecting them, which in turn leads to mutation, and adds the beings to the Zerg ranks. They had even infected entire races at one point, fully adding them to the Zerg gene tree.

The Zerg's chain of command was one of the things that Dr Hojo discovered. The race are divided into 'broods', groups. And in each brood, there is at least from 50, to 500,000 Zerg beings, one of them being called an 'Overmind', who commands each of these broods. Hojo believes there is one more rank higher then an Overmind, but none of the broods have shown any unity so far on Char, simply fighting between themselves.

The Zerg of today, is much different from those of legends past. The Zerg now, bare more of a humanoid figure, Classed as "Basic Zerg" to the GF, they have red scaled skin, yellow eyes with snake-like black pupils, two open slits for nostrils, and a mouthful of jagged teeth. On the top of their hands, they can produce two white long claws, completely made of bone, when they need to attack. Zerg are known to have other abilities, but these appear to differ from one brood to another. One brood might have the ability to teleport short distances, while another may have the ability of using it's hands and feet to climb walls.

All this major change to the gene pool some several million years ago was thanks to an ancient vampire getting infected by the Zerg, because of his powerful abilities and skills, the Zerg allowed him to become an Overmind of their swarm, and with that, he produced his own kind, the today Zerg, and drove out the old ones. The surprising part is the infection of the Vampire, as Zerg and Vampires are not known for being good bedfellows, often driving each other out of their respective territories.

Richard knew of them alright, but why did he ask? Again, Unicron was one step ahead.

**"Go, to Char, and you will find them. They will follow your every whim. Use them, and bring fourth chaos and despair, before my arrival."**

Richard wanted to question as to why, but if someone higher up wants him to have this….power of his, then whatever Unicron says, gets done.

* * *

Three days passed quietly in the base. Chad had fully recovered, and returned to his room in the middle of the night. Dr Light promised Chad that he and Dr Wily will personally congratulate him in defeating Darkmega sometime within the next few days, but right now, Chad was just laying in his bed, enjoying having some rest.

Not everyone in the base was so lucky though.

One person was busy in the labs, looking inside one of the computers and checking it was all functioning okay, as Dr Light complained of smoke coming out of it at one point. The person was laying on ground on her back, with her head and hands inside the massive computer, checking the wires and hardware, after finally removing the metal hatch on the front.

Keira looked at the machine's wires and hardware carefully, and saw the problem. Two simple wires were crossed…she sighed in annoyance. This always seems to happen in these infernal machines. It took only a few minute of gentle untwisting of them, getting out of the computer and closing it back up, then switching it on, to make it work completely fine again.

She heard the door to the lab open, and saw Princess Zelda, slowly walking in, looking at her with a smile. "Good morning Keira."

Keira nodded at her, then looked at the computer screen, as it was loading up.

"So? How's the work going?"

Keira begun to type on the machine, as she wanted it to run a scan of it's system. "Nearly done now. I dunno why I do some of their requests at times. It's so easy, I'm sure even the likes of Yuan Shao could fix it."

Zelda had a little giggle, then stood near Keira, looking at the computer screen as well. "..so, things improved between you and Jak?"

"Not this again Zelda, I've discussed it with you before, I'm in no mood for him."

"…Look Keira, that was quite a long time ago…don't you think you should just shrug it off?"

"No."

"..I just think you need to speak to someone in here, get to know them, if you know what I mean?"

Keira looked at her. " I don't need a boyfriend, they just cause trouble."

"Well that Zhao Yun looks at you in a nice way, and his rather dashing."

"Why don't you go and fuck him then?"

Zelda frowned at her for a moment for that response.

Keira sighed. "Look Zelda…I'm not in the mood for guys…Thanks for talking to me, but I like being single-" She heard a beeping sound from the computer.

She had a look, and the scanner program was showing, with writing on the screen saying it was damaged, and required repair…programming…boy, that takes a long time…Keira knew that the scanner was vital, and decided instead of wasting time, she could easily ask the docs to do it. Hell, she done her part of the job.

* * *

…...

…He opened his eyes….

Rain….cold rain…washing over him…dark grey clouds in the sky…lightning.

Arms….no, just a arm….and one leg…numb…..he couldn't move his head….a figure…an old man….

The old man spoke. "Look at you, wounded, dying, alone….this isn't for you."

He couldn't speak, he just…couldn't…too weak…too damaged.

"What if I told you, that you have a much larger, greater destiny before you then what you had once thought?"

Destiny…what destiny…all he wanted was utter chaos…

"You must return to them, and work with them, against the very being, you had wished to bring forth.."

The being…his memory was dying out, bit by bit…

"Are you afraid right now?"

Yes….yes he was….he wanted to say it…he just wanted to, he felt fear…emotion…

His eyesight blurred, the old man was becoming no more then a smudge in his view…

"You will wake again…and you will warn them, of what you had done."

That was all he last heard…

* * *

It was about 6 in the evening, and right now, Chad was sitting at a round metal table, on one of the simple, cheap metal chairs, with a glass of black fizzy drink, Dr pepper, as most people call it. He was inside the main luxury area of this base, called Ridley's Bar.

Ridley's Bar is owned by the space dragon, of an old, unknown species of them, called Ridley, the once known rival to Samus Aran. Once renowned space pirate, Ridley had chosen to come to the base to retire from that old life, as you can only enjoy looting, raiding, killing and causing chaos for no reason for so long.

Dr Light suggested a bar or pub for the place, but not a lot of people were willing to serve up drinks to others that might cause a fight easily…aka, Samus Aran. Only Ridley had the real balls to do it, and saw it as a new way forward in his career…and so far, his loved every moment of it.

Ridley, after being in the base for two years now, has become a relaxed, welcoming friend to those in the base, mainly due to the fact he gives out booze to make them happy now, and if they get on his bad side, he can simply toss them out...or try to fry them, whatever strikes his fancy at the time. His also become best friends with his old rival, as they now often chat when in the bar…again, Samus mainly accepts him because of the booze, and it makes her happy…pissed, sometimes going into a fit of missile firing rage, but happy nonetheless.

The bar had six tables, each with at least seven chairs around them. The bar itself was fully metal, with at least ten chairs next to it. Behind it, stood Ridley, his wings folded in, speaking with Samus Aran, who of course, had her helmet off for now, and Zhang Liao, as they ALWAYS sat at the bar, no excuses…Zhang Liao was the only person that would really put up with Samus Aran when she was having drinks. With them at the bar side as well, was Mr T, with a pint of cold fresh milk. At one table, was Ryu, Ken, Mario and Luigi. At another, was Wei Yan from Earth V, Cao Cao and Xiahou Dun, and there was Chad's table, with Himself and Anna, who had a small bottle of blue coloured fizzy alcohol, called "Jaraso!".

Of course, alcohol and drink isn't free…the currency is Gil, which are small gold pennies, worth 50gil each, and notes, varying to all kinds of amounts, some notes worth 100,000gil, and most people of the base have a decent amount with them, some with far more then others, aka, Yuan Shao, since being a minister, gets a monthly check for simply being alive of 500,000gil.

Chad hasn't got any sort of income, and all the money he has, is from the gold rings he collected over time back on Mobius…which didn't give him much, as each ring was exchanged for 2 gil…he had 2500 rings in total, and it just gave him a measly 5000gil…and buying a pint of dr pepper was like 300gil a pint…and his money hadn't improved over two years of absence of course, and now he was down to 700gil.

He had saved his money tonight though, as Anna wanted to treat him. He was listening to her right now about some of the people here.

"- and Mario believed it! Seriously! He thought that what Sonic said to him was true! That the wild mushrooms of Zebes were the same type as on the Mushroom world!"

"He did? So what happened" Chad asked.

"Well, he got him and ate them…had this 'mad'a trip' as he put it, got sent to the hospital, was made to hurl up by Dr Light…and swore blind revenge on the blue hedgehog. Of course Luigi got him to calm down…but to hear Mario f'ing and swearing was great to see!"

"Heh, I bet it was…" Chad sat back, and looked around at everyone else, while Anna was starting on something else about people…he saw Zhang Liao telling Samus to take it easy, as it was her 5th pint…she didn't give a shit. Mario had just got a hardy slap on the back from Ryu for some reason, some joke no doubt, as Ryu was laughing…and Marios face was slammed on the table by the sheer force of the hardy slap.

Chad felt a cold shiver down his spine…something was happening. Something not good…

" -Cao Cao really wanted to get back at Liu Bei, so…..Chad?…are you okay?"

Chad looked at her, and shook his head a little. "No…Something is getting to me, like, something bad is happening right now…"

Anna looked a little concerned. " Well, it can't be on this planet…could it? I mean you just dealt with Darkmega.."

"…My gut instinct is telling me it's on this planet…no, in this base right now."

"…Maybe you should go and see the Doc's about it Chad. Maybe they know something is wrong."

"Yeah, good idea." He got up from the table, and smiled at her. "Hey, thanks for the drink Anna. Hopefully I'll get back to drink it, if not…well, thank you anyway."

Anna smiled back at him. "My pleasure."

Chad turned, and left the bar…he didn't want to, but he wanted this feeling gone first before he gets all chatty with Anna…she's got such a nice smile, he thought to himself…and her body…he could picture it in his head right now…he soon shook it out, as he arrived in the main room, and walked to the labs grabbing the handle of the door and pushing it down.

He smacked right into the door.

He stood back, dazed a little, rubbing his face, as he had flattened it on the door…that wasn't right...

"Door's locked."

He looked to the voice that said that, and saw Charlie sitting down at one of the chairs, reading a small book. "Could've warned me sooner…why's it locked?"

Charlie didn't bother to look at him while answering. "Dr Light and Dr Wily just found someone injured in the corridor entrance after fixing the scanner. They refused anyone to see the person while they teleported him to the lab. They're both inside right now."

"How long have they been in there?"

"A good half an hour or so."

Chad looked at the door to the labs…and the bad feeling was coming from inside. He knocked on the door.

…..No reply.

He banged on the door.

It was heard being unlocked, and Dr Wily opens it a little, popping his head out. "What is it!?…" He looks at Chad, and frowns. "Oh it's only you…What's the matter? We're busy."

"Busy with what, doc? More precise, who with?"

"None of your business!"

Chad gave him a glare. "Oh? If your like that, normally it's something not good…I can break this door down you know if I have to!"

Dr Wily wasn't going to back down. "Don't threaten me young man! This is my base! I can easily chuck you out if you start trying to get your nose into our business!"

"After the WONDERFUL work you did on Darkmega? I have a good enough reason to get my nose in!"

Then, he heard a voice…weak, but he knew it.. "Let him in…Dr Wily…I'm in good enough condition.."

Chad looked at Dr Wily in the way that showed on his face 'WHAT, THE FUCK!?'.

Dr Wily knew that look. "Chad…relax okay? He was severely wounded, and we can't just let people die."

Chad clenched his teeth. "HE is a different matter! Fucking hell doc, he planned to come and kill us all only a few days ago!"

"After the damage you done to him, I think his learnt his lesson…look, before you start shouting anymore…just, come in.."

Dr Wily moved back, opening the door…Chad walked in. As Wily closed the door, Chad saw the person sitting on a metal table before him, with Dr Light at a computer nearby, with a white wire connected to the person, and to his computer..

Chad said his name like he was trash. "Darkmega…"

Darkmega was in a state. His left arm was missing, data flowing out from it's place, his right leg was gone, his clothing was damaged, along with his Navi crest, his helmet cracked, a little black blood was seeping from his mouth, as he looked at Chad.

Darkmega's voice wasn't fully restored, but Dr Light was making the repairs now. "Heh, how quickly we meet up again, huh Chad?"

Unlike humanoids, repairing Navi's is a lot easier. Attaching them to a computer, you can restore a lost limb, fix broken bones, recharge their energy, even fix blindness or deafness…it takes time, but it works.

Chad didn't seem to care for Darkmega's state right now. "….What the fuck are you doing here."

"Not even a hello? You hurt me Chad…more then you already have. I thought we were friends."

"You forced everyone off Earth X, took my friend and controlled him, made Anna and the others lives miserable, and you act like we're buddies?! I've got a right mind to blast you into oblivion…"

Dr Wily had quickly moved to stand next to Chad. "Lad, listen to what Darkmega has to say…he came with a warning." Chad looked at him, and he continued. "We're not stupid enough to fix a mistake, unless something else was going on.."

Darkmega smiled. "And that something is my own mistake, a good idea at first, but now I've lost my position, not so…I've summoned something far more powerful then myself….tell me Chad, have you ever heard of…Unicron?"

Chad thought about the name…then looked at Dr Wily. "Got any ideas?"

Dr light spoke up, while typing on the computer. "Chad…Unicron is known to be a old legendary being from the time of Primus, a machine that desired destruction of the universe, at one point, he even used his dark powers to grow into the size of a planet…it's not really known as to what his fate was, but I'm afraid that, to what Darkmega said, this Unicron fits the tales…'Heavens Judgement', he used to call himself."

"Heavens Judgement? Oh boy, a crazy one then.."

Darkmega laughed a little. "Crazy? Perhaps…but his beyond my power Chad…you thought I was bad? You haven't seen anything yet…he'll come soon, and he'll start to devour, to eat planets."

Chad looked stunned at Darkmega. "He…eats planets!?"

"His still in his planet size Chad…he needs to feed, and with so much life on these planets within the Galactic Federation, his going to be having a buffet."

"Well if his still in his planet size, what the hell can we do? It's gonna be up to the Galactic Federation to handle this! I done my bit by kicking your sorry ass!"

"You're expecting them to hold him off? His out of their league Chad. He'll destroy any fleet they send at him without trouble."

Chad shrugged. "That'll be all Keaton's fault then, wouldn't it? From what I hear he isn't the smartest guy around."

Darkmega looked Chad in the eyes, and chuckled. "So you won't do anything? You won't try if he comes and endangers you and your precious friends?"

"The docs would handle it. They'll brew something powerful to send him packing with."

"And what if I said Richard might get involved with Unicron as well?"

Chad went silent…

"I thought so…you wouldn't stay away then. I'll tell you now that he will be. Him and I awoke Unicron together. No doubt his gone to meet with him."

Chad glared at the dark Navi. "That's because his still under your control, now most likely Unicrons as well…"

"Is that what you think? That I controlled your friend? Boy are you stupid.."

Darkmega found himself looking Chad right in the face, as Chad had shot forward, grabbed Darkmega by the front of his clothing, and pulled him close, ready to smash his face in. Dr Wily and Dr Light both shouted at Chad to put him down at once.

Darkmega didn't get scared at this, he just kept his evil smile. "A little soft spot? To him? You? You were rivals Chad if I recall….are you gay?"

"His still a friend to everyone else here and you made him turn into one of your psycho minions. Richard would never go so low as you made him. He would never abandon his family."

Darkmega still didn't flinch. "Heheh, You're an idiot, a complete idiot. How the hell did I lose to you?"

Chad raised a fist, and was ready to hammer Darkmega's face in, but Dr Wily got bold, and grabbed Chad's arm, forcing him to stop. Chad glared at the doctor.

Dr Wily shook his head. "Chad, Richard is my grandson. I'll do the beatings if I feel there should be any. Not you. Right now I don't think we should waste our anger on Darkmega. Or get worked up about Richard. As far as I'm concerned, we have a bigger problem."

"Unicron is not our problem Doc! The GF can handle him! They have huge guns on their ships and more troopers then we could ever count!"

Dr Light stopped typing on the computer, and turned towards Chad, Darkmega and Dr Wily. "Chad, Unicron is very powerful. His size may make him a large target, but I doubt technological weapons would effect him. I believe that back within the days of Primus, they most likely had huge warships and weapons, but it was Primus that defeated him. Not a huge army. One man. I admit, for now, we must wait and see, but if we are needed, we need to start thinking of something to fight him off with. Darkmega MIGHT be able to assist."

Chad let go of Darkmega, staring at Dr Light like he was a loony. " Doc…No. Just, no. Darkmega needs to be deleted! He can't help us! His insane! His-"

Dr Wily spoke up "Wounded and unable to hurt us! Chad, you need to cool off! What Darkmega tried has failed! End of!"

"Are you going to tell everyone else that we have a psycho in the base!? Their reaction is gonna be close to mine!"

"Well…Maybe…in a week or two.."

Chad just…gave up with them. It was hopeless. They couldn't see it the way he did. He just walked out of the labs, pissed off.

Dr Wily Sighed, then Darkmega chuckled, saying "So, was him and Richard an item once then docs?"


	8. Unicron

Two days had passed…

"Captain's Log, Stardate 46589.7. Once again the Enterprise has been assigned to patrol the border defences between the United Federation of Planets, and the Galactic Federation, who, as I believe, will attack us once again in time, as reports had already arrived of their civil threat of a being called 'Dark Megaman' have ended, no doubt meaning their attention will return to us."

"Once we begin the patrol, we will be joining up with the USS Kolto and the USS Steamrunner. Then we are to go to Outpost 72, to 73, to 78, then finally 83. Once that is complete, we head for starbase 12 to relieve ourselves of the duty and allow another group of ships to take over. The time this patrol should take is 9 standard days."

In the voids of space, shooting by stars and solar systems, was the Enterprise D, one of the many Galaxy class vessels of the United Federation of Planets, the flagship vessel of that class, known for being top of the range with all possible upgrades installed.

The United Federation of Planets, is famous for not only having superior technology in medicine, shielding, lasers and warp speed, its also famous for its attempts to stress the points and values of universal liberty, equality, justice, peace and cooperation. It's ships, especially those so well armed, are solely designed for self defence, and not for acts of war. As far as the Galactic Federation stood, these ships are pretty damn useful for holding off the barrage of warships they send.

The UFP has always wondered as to why such a long time ally as the Galactic Federation, formally SCI, would attack them. It soon became clear. Because of their grand commander wanting everyone to obey them. The UFP refused to just roll over and accept the attacks, and took a powerful defensive measure against the GF. The border hasn't changed at all throughout the war, proving the UFP are more then ready to fight.

Upon the Enterprise D, on the bridge, sitting at his chair, was none other then captain Jean-Luc Picard. To his right, his first officer William T. Riker, to his left, Deanna Troi, the counsellor, at the helm, was the android Data and Wesley Crusher, and behind him, at the weapons station, was the Klingon, Worf.

Picard was relaxed right now, simply waiting for them to arrive at Outpost 72, when Data's console begun making a few little beeps, as Data begun to check. "Captain, I'm picking up some unusual readings near Outpost 72."

Picard raised his right eyebrow slightly. "Unusual in what way, Data?"

"It is a mass of energy sir, one that I've never seen before and-…Captain, the sensors have lost the readings of Outpost 72."

Picard looked stunned a little. "Lost?"

"Yes sir. Perhaps the new energy reading is effecting the systems or perhaps it has been destroyed."

Riker frowned and looked at Picard, as he looked at him. "The Galactic Federation…This energy might be a new weapon."

The captain nodded in agreement. "Perhaps. Mister Data, get us out of warp when we are within visual range of the reading."

"Aye sir."

It only took then several minutes to arrive near where the Outpost was, and on screen, on the bridge, they saw a strange…planet shaped object, several thousand kilometres away, slowly moving away, leaving their borders..

Riker, along with most of the bridge crewmen, were looking at the strange object. "What is it, some kind of moon?"

Picard stood up from his chair and looked carefully. "That's certainly no moon…Data, what is that? Any sign of Outpost 72?"

Data begun using the sensors, while Deanna Troi seen disturbed. "Captain, it's alive. That planet is actually alive. I'm sensing a lot of evil and unwelcoming feelings from it…we shouldn't go near it."

Data then turned to his captain, as Picard was about to question Deanna. "Sir, Outpost 72 has been completely destroyed. There are a few bits of debris, but nothing more. The sensors also pick up that the object is made of unknown metals, with signs of energy outputs, large amounts, coming from it. It has no shields, no weapons, and is the size of a giant planet, similar in diameter to that of the sector 001 systems planet Jupiter."

"Jupiter?!" The captain was really stunned now. "Data. Where is that planet machine heading?"

"It appears to be going into Galactic Federation space. If the angle and direction it is heading is correct, I believe it is heading for their planet called Gaia VII."

"Then it's now the GF's problem to take care of." Riker said, as he looked to his captain.

Picard shook his head. "It could be our problem as well. Riker, I want you to contact any and all nearby ships, try to find out if they saw whatever happened to outpost 72. Then contact Starfleet and see if they know anything. Mister Data, keep us in position for now."

"Aye Sir."

* * *

Char….a planet of barren wastelands, once a wonderful and beautiful M class planet, filled with green lands, forests, water and life…now…mere lava, red dead lands, dried earth…this was the home to the Zerg.

When they arrived, the planet quickly changed from it's glory days. It's name was given by the GF for the actual state of the planet when they found it…charred, ruined….it was this planet, that the heartless warship was now floating above, under fire from two nearby GF warships. It wasn't long before the heartless vessel was blasted into nothing more then debris and scrap metal…but it's cargo had landed on the planet…

Richard Wily.

He breathed in the hot air…this planet had warmed up very quickly after the Zerg's arrival…it was bearable to human life, but just. The sky was blood red, the clouds, black, the land around him, red, cracked and lifeless….all but Zerg, which he saw nearby…his first stop.

The Zerg were a group race, called broods. The ones Richard was looking at right now had blue markings on their backs, to symbolise their difference from other groups. Unlike their ancestors, these Zerg require old, previously used buildings to live in. They cannot create their own it seems. This group had simply created a nesting ground with rocks and stone to show it's their territory. Food appeared to be no problem, as the Zerg were not afraid to eat other brood Zerg.

Richard also watched how they walked. When moving slowly and relaxed, they appear to be fully able to stand on two feet, and walk like man, but when they appear to be rushing about or getting aggressive, they go down on all fours, using their hands and feet to gain more speed then they would on two.

Then Richard saw what he was after…the Overmind. It was in the center of the group. It was like most of the others, but it had more markings on it's body, from it's head to it's feet, there was lines of blue skin…on it's back, it had two extended limbs, about 3 feet, each appeared to be several bones that were slightly covered in red flesh, with a sharp, bone claw at the end of each…these were Overmind claws, designed to symbolise it's power and skills.

Richard begun to walk over to them.

There reaction was as expected. Several Zerg noticed his presence, and quickly moved in front of the nest, on all fours, getting ready to attack him…but Richard had a smell on him…a unique smell…

Zerg used smell above all senses. It made them know the difference between food and threats, rivals and allies, home and unknown lands.

This new smell made them slowly move back, as Richard got closer…it was a very threatening smell, a warning to them. Their Overmind had now taken notice, and while standing, slowly moved towards Richard…to him, the smell wasn't so bad. It was like a summon to him, a calling.

Richard stopped, as he and the Overmind were now face to face…the smell of dead flesh got up his nose, looking at the thing in disgust a little. It watched him in curiosity…it couldn't make out what he was suppose to be…he was human, but…he had something else…something that made him greater then them…the smell of a greater Overmind.

Richard was waiting for it to welcome him or even say something, but it remained silent…he sighed in annoyance. "Hello? I'm your new master? Unicron sent me?….do you speak?"

Silence…

"Understand galactic?"

Silence again….

"Me, new master. You, obey me. We make heavy chaos and conquer universe. For giant planet called Unicron."

…

"Bah Weep Graaagnah Wheep Ni Ni Bong?"

The Zerg Overmind nodded to acknowledge the greeting.

"Ah, that's a start. Right, I came here to tell you Unicron demands your allegiance."

The Zerg Overmind stayed silent.

"…great, I got idiots for allies…and you're the first Overmind here. I hope I don't have to go through this with all the little fuckers…."

He looks carefully the Overmind, when he hears it speak suddenly. The Zerg language is that of Galactic, but it was at a pitch which only dolphins or bats would be able to match and listen…Richard, who was surprised to suddenly hear him let alone understand, jumped back a little…to a normal person, they would be hearing faint sounds, or a high pitched scream. "I was simply curious to what you are, human, if you are called that."

Another way Zerg had to communicate was through a series of clicks, made by the Overmind claws via two of them gently hitting together, or actual small inner mouth claws to the lower ranks. To them, it was like Morse code.

The Overminds claws bent towards each other behind the Overmind's back and created a few gentle clicks together…the Zerg seem to react to it by walking near their Overmind, and standing next to him, all of them looking at Richard.

Richard was a little surprised with his remark about being human. "Yeah, I am a human. I've been sent by Unicron, the planet eater?"

The Overmind seemed to think about this for a moment. "…Heaven's judgement. He requires our service again after so long, since the days of primus…and you carry the smell of a superior Overmind." The Overmind Zerg then bent down onto one knee…and his entire brood followed suit. "We shall obey you and work to whatever desires you have, great one."

Richard smirked. Talk about a walk in the park, all he had to do and walk up to these guys, let them smell him, know his top dog, and plain sailing from there….he was gonna enjoy this, things were quickly looking up. "Well you're the start of what I need…come on, let's round up several more broods. Then, we'll get to work…."

As Richard and his new allies set off from their little nest, he felt a slight pain in his back…he thought it was simply a little nerve twinge, and nothing else, and chose to ignore it.

Inside him though, the lump that Unicron implanted onto his spine, begun to grow small, little veins….

* * *

On the other side of the Galactic Federation, was the Galactic Empire, and it's small enemy, the Rebel Alliance.

The Galactic Empire was a powerful force that believed in the way of military power. They match the Galactic Federation in many ways and forms, from weapons to warships. The only special advantage the Empire and it's enemy, the Rebel Alliance had compared to it's rivals was the Force. Jedi Knights and Sith Lords, gifted people with unique energy blades, capable of fighting whole armies with relative ease.

These two sides once were fighting one another, but ever since this war began with the Galactic Federation, they've declared an alliance, to take on the GF from stealing their worlds.

Dagobah, a lone planet within the Galactic Empire/Rebel Alliance sector, a swap like world, with little intelligent life…on the planet, was a certain Jedi Master, by the name of Yoda.

He was, at the moment, idly sitting in his small home, his eyes closed, allowing his mind and body to flow with the force, the life of the world, nay, the universe…and he felt a fearsome disturbance within it…

He felt the presence of Unicron, the fear he brought with him. It was nothing like anything Yoda had encountered before…he had heard tales of Unicron from the days before SCI vanished and was replaced with the GF…but this was completely different. He opened he eyes, worried at what he felt, and knew of what to do.

He stood up, and looked to his fireplace, saying to himself "Pure evil, it is…I must talk with Luke and others, and also the emperor. Dark times ahead, I fear…"

* * *

Unicron Hungered.

Planets, so many planets passed by him, but not one appeared to be ripe to him, to satisfy the hunger he had.

Unicron had been asleep for so long, to await this very moment that the being that sent Richard promised would arrive….this was to be his comeback from the utter disgrace against that Primus.

Primus…

That name angered him…a man, who stood up to him, and won. To this day, Unicron has not forgotten him. A mere man…

Unicron thought ahead. The moment he was able to get into Richard's mind, he knew of the current events…and the capital planet of this…Galactic Federation.

That planet, was certainly ripe…if he was to eat it, not only would he enjoy it's taste and fill a longing hole in his stomach, but it would cause chaos to this empire…

Chaos, he would thrive in. In chaos, there is disorder, and in disorder, there is fear…they will know the planet eater, heaven's judgement, as he proudly names himself, and fear him…their weapons won't stop him from continuing his feeding on other worlds…

But it is a while away, that world, ready for him…for now he'll have to make do with small little appetizers like that space station at the border to this empire.

…he slowed his movement. He felt a familiar presence coming to him from where he came, from the other side of that border.

Within the depths of his form, he smiled evilly…he knew them from his previous reign of terror…they gave him respect, they avoided a fight with him, he was a machine that was superior to them…

Two cube shaped vessels shot ahead of him, slowing down and staying there for a moment, before they opened a hailing channel to him, which he remembered so well with his first encounter with them…his energy power is one that was impossible to go unnoticed.

"We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your vessel. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Resistance is futi-"

**"The Borg****…****the ones that wish for perfection. I suggest you do not go ahead of yourselves. For I, am Unicron."**

The Borg, a race not known to the Galactic Empire and the Galactic Federation. Their mission is to assimilate and absorb other races into their "collective". They are a known sworn enemy to the United Federation of Planets and it's fellow empires such as the Romulan Star Empire, the Klingon Empire and the Cardassian Union. They hold patches of space, often attempting to attack other borders.

As Unicron guessed, his sudden power surge and return stirred the hive mind. They decided to intercept him and attempt to assimilate…untill they were reminded who he was…a complete machine, one of power that was beyond theirs…one who could be seen as more perfect.

There was silence for a time…Unicron knew they had already checked their data, and knew who he was now. **"I may have a use for your kind, Borg****…****unlike before****…****"**

"….state your proposal."

* * *

On a space station above Char, there was chaos, sirens blaring, lights dimmed, alarms going off everywhere…

He was panting, his two friends were following him down one of the body filled steel corridors of fellow troopers, with their blood spilled everywhere, some, their head and helmets were smashed in, others had their limbs torn off or their intestines on the floor.

They kept moving, they tried contacting several other squads in the station, but either they heard horrifying screams on the other end, or static.

He quickly checked his ammo, as they came to the end of the corridor that had a T junction. His gun was still pretty full of energy compared to the amount of Zerg they had killed.

He looked to his friends. One of them was fine, keeping an eye on their rear incase any of the fuckers were in pursuit. The other one…he was hurt, his right arm had been gashed really badly, with the armour of it torn open, and blood leaking out slowly. He was unable to use the arm, complaining it had gone num, and was holding his energy rifle with his left hand for now.

They're aim was to get to weapons locker room. It had a first aid kit there for their friend, and additional weapons and ammo for them to carry in order to have a greater chance to evacuate the station.

All this started the moment they allowed that transport ship from outpost 4 from that hell planet to dock here. The second those doors opened, Zerg flooded out, hundreds of the fuckers. It didn't take them long to overrun the station. Since the Zerg threat was seen as minor for the past 10 years, the amount of troops onboard had been cut down to a mere 400...clearly, as he noticed, this wasn't enough to suppress them.

But that was because it was minor at one point, the Zerg appeared too busy with fighting between themselves on that planet, their days of attacking others had been over…something's stirred them into action.

He soon checked both possible routes…they were thankfully clear, and motioned his friends to follow him, thankfully still knowing his way to the locker room.

"INCOMING!"

He turned, and saw at least ten Zerg running on all fours, up the corridor they came from. He bent down onto one knee, aimed his energy rifle, and opened fire, along with both of his friends, the wounded one having a hard time firing, as the energy rifle really required both hands to hold.

The rain of energy bullets flew at the Zerg, three of them failing to avoid the wave, and were hole ridden soon enough. The others leapt onto the walls and ceiling, being able to latch onto the surfaces, and kept coming.

The bullets soon got another four of the buggers, and as they got very close, another one got his head blasted apart by several energy shots at once. One Zerg leapt at the wounded trooper, who aimed as the Zerg jumped, and was just able to blast a good five holes in it's chest, knocking it away, dead.

The last Zerg was on the ceiling, and dived down at them, the two troopers that were fine quickly pointed their weapons upwards and unleashed as many rounds as they could, pinning the creature on the ceiling, it's guts and blood splashing over them, as they kept firing, untill it was no more then small pieces of flesh raining down on them.

"Fuck yeah! We're kicking ass!" the two troopers gave a high five to one another, while the wounded trooper just stood there, panting, looking down the corridor.

The two looked at him, a little worried. "Hey solider, just try and relax okay? We're close to fresh weapons and medical kits."

The wounded trooper didn't respond…he just fell to his knees, panting even more. It was getting very hard to breathe for him…the pain…there was new pain in his arm…his body…

The other two looked at each other, wondering what would be the best idea. "Listen, he can't go on like this, how about one of us go and get the supplies while the other stays with him? It's only a couple of corridors away from here now."

There wasn't any time to decide between them which one should, as the wounded man began to scream out in pain…as his wounded arm just…exploded. The armour on it, along with the flesh and bones of his hand, just flew off, and in it's place, connected to the socket, was now just the arm bones, covered in little flesh and blue red veins, and replacing his hand, was a huge, curled claw.

Soon, blood red veins begun to appear from the gaps in the remaining armour, covering over some of the trooper…he slowly stood up, and turned around, looking at his companions, who had quickly raised their weapons, shaking slightly, and taking a few steps back…

An ungodly screech suddenly came form him, as the visor shattered, and showed his face, his eyes bright yellow, widened with horror, his skin a dark red colour, with parts of it torn, showing the flesh underneath, his mouth disfigured, with dozens of the same red veins coming out of it..

He was an infected.

He charged at them, and they could've stopped him before anything, if they didn't hesitate…the consequence was that he was able to get close, and as they fired, one of the troopers found himself impaled by the huge claw, tearing through his stomach, the armour, and out of his back, screaming in pain, his visor splattered with his blood.

The other trooper just didn't stop firing, out of complete terror to what his seeing, shouting in anger. The energy bullets rained on the infected, and some even hit his dying friend, actually killing him before the wound did, as one energy bullet tore through the helmet. The infected was hole ridden in his normal arm and torso, before falling to the floor, with his only victim still on his claw.

The trooper looked to the sight before him…he remembered the screams down the com-links before, the cries of friends attacking them, the screams of pain and despair, then eerie silence…was, he alone now?

He looked down the corridor they came from….he heard them, Zerg, unknown numbers, coming this way… he was in the T junction now, and looked at the other two routes…he heard more Zerg from both, he knew the conclusion.

He was trapped.

He checked his rifle, and found he still had some decent ammo left. At least he could try and fight his way out…at least try…he saw the first wave come, and took aim….

Richard stood in the blooded command centre of the station, bodies of scientists and troopers were seen around the circled room, with dozens of computers and a main screen, with several doors leading out into the rest of the station.

Thanks to the Zerg, this place was now his, and he had already bypassed the codes to use the emergency teleport to bring more of the Zerg aboard. Next to him, was the Overmind with the lines of blue skin. It spoke to him. "Our united forces report that the outposts on the planet have already been swarmed over, and the space station is nearly clean of human resistance. We also have support from several more broods on the planet."

"Of course, you Zerg have been made to stay low all this time, the moment a chance to strike comes up, everyone wants to jump on the band wagon." Richard looked around slowly, proud of this achievement. "But this is only the start. We'll soon be leaving this stupid little space station and head to the main capital world of this federation."

The Overmind appeared slightly concerned with this idea. "But all we have is human transport ships. If they find out we are on them before even getting close to land, we will be destroyed."

"I know that. But we will find a way…somehow. Get as many Zerg up on the station as possible, we'll plan to depart soon, hopefully before any GF warships just so happen to come along."

* * *

On his flagship, Commander Keaton had just brought it back to orbit Gaia VII after that tedious check with Earth X to make sure things were slowly being restored, standing with him, was Master Chief, and on her hologram panel, Cortana.

"Master Chief, I want you to make sure all border units are returned to where they were, and restart the process of taking over our rivals. Cortana, inform Rufus and Dr Robotnik that I wish to speak to them back in Midgar the moment I teleport down there."

Cortana appeared a little distracted however. "Sir, I've been getting nothing more then radio silence over one of the quarantined planets…"

Keaton looked down at her. "And what one is it?"

"It's Char sir."

Master Chief looked at Keaton. "The Zerg planet. It's been rather quiet down there lately, but maybe all this Dark Megaman business has stirred them."

Keaton shrugged it off. "Then let's un-stir it then. Cortana, inform all nearby GF warships of that sector to head to the planet and prepare to destroy anything that has been overrun. Make sure they block out all codes of the space station emergency teleport so they don't get invaded."

Cortana spoke up. "Sir, what if the people on the station need to be got out of there?"

"Our priority with contained planets is to make sure it stays contained. We can easily make a new station and replace the lives we lose."

"Understood, sir…."

* * *

Chad was in an annoyed mood.

He was sitting in the bar as the time hit 6pm, and was actually at the bar side itself. Anna was due to see him today. Right now, he was sitting with Zhang Liao, Jak and Daxter and Samus Aran…who was asleep on the side right now from her normal large amount of booze, her helmet on the floor, where she knocked it off before going to sleep.

Ridley had just served Chad a pint of Dr Pepper, no ice. Anna had given him cash before he came here, to 'make sure he lives long enough for her to arrive.'. Ridley looked at him carefully afterwards. "…You ain't normal Chad. Something on your mind?"

Daxter, the annoying orange ottsel, which was a mix between an otter and a weasel, quickly butted in, looking at the space dragon "Ain't you heard? Those mad docs let Darkmega back in here! Chad's been telling everyone about it!"

"Well he didn't tell me."

Chad murmured "Dr Light and Dr Wily are fixing Darkmega in the labs Ridley."

Ridley frowned at him. "Yes, thank you Chad. Little late and all don't ya think?"

Jak took a sip of his pint of beer. "I damn hope we won't have to go through that whole process again like we did on Earth X. Man that wasn't fun.."

Daxter sat on the bar side, looking at Jak. "I totally agree with ya there Jak. I swear I was nearly crushed by those huge robot guys when we were leaving that base…and I know we only got away with making this place thanks to that Yuan Shao guy. If he weren't around we'd be stuffed in prison like that Keaton guy would've wanted!"

"He seemed to have a personnel problem against us, like we're his worst nightmare or something…"

Zhang Liao was looking into his teal coloured cocktail drink when he spoke. "We are a band of people that are recognized on many worlds. That kind've support could lead to an uprising if we ever felt like it. And my lord has an army back home on Earth V, much like Shu does, Wu, and the other kingdom leaders there. If we needed an actual army, we could make one. That makes us a dangerous enemy. Don't you agree Chad?"

Chad nodded idly, not really listening in right now. His thoughts drifted to Darkmega, Richard…and Unicron..

Ridley looked over at Samus's empty pint glass, and moved it away from her as she slept. "I'm still surprised the docs would go this far. I mean a lot of their ideas sucked, but Darkmega took the cake. Why remake it?"

Chad knew, but he wasn't in the right mood to answer that question, instead, he just heard them continue their own little debate and ideas about why the docs done this. Daxters ideas slowly went out of hand, as he begun to say that they planned to create a clone army of Darkmega's, force the heroes into slavery, and then take over the universe…this was replied with a powerful slap to the back of his head by Jak.

That's when Anna walked in, coming over to the barside, and sat down next to Chad, next to Zhang Liao. Ridley gave her a smile. "Evening Anna, What's it to be today?"

"Surprise me Ridley."

Ridley looked a little concerned at her, as Daxter had begun to have a go at Jak for the blow to the head…only to get one again. "You sure? Last time you let me, I gave you the 'Zoomer choo choo' cocktail, and you vomited like no tomorrow."

"That's because it was made from REAL Zoomers blood off this planet Ridley! that's disgusting!"

"Well you didn't mind it untill you finished it and asked what it was. You was fine with the vodka and gall berries, but the second I said Zoomer blood…bam, another clean up job for me."

"Ugh, just, get me something that doesn't include blood off something…"

Ridley thought about this for a moment, then moved away from where Anna and Chad were, getting her god knows what. Anna then looked at Chad and smiled. "Hey Chad. Sorry for being a little slow. I decided to go and see Dr Wily and Dr Light quickly."

Chad nodded. "And? Are they listening to sanity?"

Anna sighed. "No, of course not. As far as their concerned, Darkmega won't do any harm again, even after I pleaded with them to just terminate the bastard. They think it's completely fine and dandy."

Ridley then returned to where they were and passed Anna a Cocktail glass, filled with blue liquid in the bottom half, and purple glowing liquid on the top half. She looked at it carefully, then looked at Ridley. "It's perfectly blood free Anna. It's a new mix I like to call "Blue Blurr.", It'll be 800 Gil."

Anna passed him the money, and took a sip of her drink…it was powerfully strong tasting of alcohol, with a hint of, as far as she could tell, blackberries. Chad took a sip of his Dr Pepper. "We can't do anything Anna, not right now…"

"-Yeah well bring it Jak, I'll give you a one two, a left and a-"Daxter was going to Jak, before Jak just smacked him off the side of the bar, onto the floor. "-owww…"

Jak turned back to his drink after looking down at his friend and smirking. "Sucks to be your size Daxter."

* * *

Meanwhile, on the Space station controlled by the Zerg, there had been some major setbacks to their plans.

Seems like not all the troopers were removed, as some had decided to play hero and not only tamper with the goddamn energy core of the station and disabling the emergency teleport, but also some had decided to self destruct every single transport ship, destroying half the hangers, and stopping them from leaving the space station altogether.

The Zerg around Richard had no idea what to do, as he was demanding them to fix the emergency teleport, but so far the reports from the energy core room was that they were doing far more harm then good, as they had shut the core down on three separate occasions.

Richard was tapping his foot, looking at the Zerg Overmind before him. "So your saying that we've now lost power to deflector shields because one of the minions decided to smash one of the control panels to try and fix the problem?"

The Overmind nodded. Richard just rolled his eyes and looked away. "Well at least things can't get any worse then this. I'm sure ol' Uni will come and hitch us a ride or something."

That's when a warning signal was set off, meaning vessels were approaching. Richard quickly went over to one of the nearby computers and typed on it, trying to find out what was coming their way.

* * *

In space, slowly homing in on the Space Station, was several Borg Cubes…

A mere hour later, three GF warships had come out of light speed, and begun to approach the planet Char. One the bridge of one vessel, a female captain was asking for scans of the planet. "Anything to report?"

One of her crewman, checking his computer, responded. "The Space Station is still intact, all humanoid life but one is left on it. The planet has all Zerg. It's been a complete wipe out."

The captain nodded. This was expected. "Very well. Begin destruction of outposts on the planet, then proceed to the Station, inform our allies to do-"

"Captain!" one of her other crewman had quickly turned to look at her from the other side of the bridge. "Two unknown ships are coming towards us! From the direction of Char!"

"Everyone battle stations! Raise deflector shields and jam all teleport signals! power up weapons and prepare fighters for take off!"

All around her was the response of "AYE AYE!"

As most of the bridge crew were moving around and sending messages to the rest of the people around the ship, the captain moved towards the station where crewman that warned her of the ships was. "How long untill they enter targeting range?"

"No more then a few minutes…they're coming into visual now."

She looked…and saw two cubes coming to them…not all GF officers knew of the Borg…but she did…and she was horrified, as they had sent them an audio message, to all three ships, in that lifeless, machine voice…

"We are the Borg, You will be Assimilated. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Resistance is futile."

* * *

1. The United Federation of Planets is pretty much what it was before the loss of the Enterprise D.

2. In this Verse, The Star Wars timeline is set just after The Empire Strikes Back. Luke and Vader had their little quarrel including the hand slicing and such, but now the Empire's focus is against the GF, as is the Rebel Alliance, pretty much trying to get the GF to piss off and let them finish their fight. Yoda is still rather young in this verse, about 600 years old, whereas in the original verse, he was 900 something, so yeah, he'll live much longer.

3. The different Zerg came into mind back then because I felt that I couldn't use the normal Zerg…later on I do when I noticed how silly that was, but since this new breed had become quite vital, especially later, I had to keep them in.

4. Light speed is about the same as Warp 3 to UFP standards…explaining why the GF are so slow and suck so bad for reinforcements.

-Dragonridley.


	9. From Foe to Friend: Doc's orders

To Keaton, it was good to be back in his office.

In his old chair, sitting back, with his small white reading glasses on, relaxed for the moment, listening to some classical music from small speakers across the office, a cup of black coffee on his desk, with two small round biscuits next to it, an opened green cover book in one hand.

All he was thinking about, is when this small outbreak problem on the planet Char is done with, things can truly get back to normal, back to the war he wants to finish with those two rival empires to HIS own, as he likes to think…all of those planets they could have, all those resources…he would be regarded as a military hero…

His little rest was quickly finished though, as Rufus and Dr Robotnik had both entered, walking towards the desk, and standing there, waiting for him to speak first.

Keaton leaned forward and gave them a small smile, putting the book gently down on the table. "I've been hearing what you two have been up too. Sitting around, sending out monitoring reports to the borders? Not the best way of spending your time…if you didn't know, Dark Megaman is gone, and Earth X is ours again."

"Good work sir." Rufus said, sounding like he was bored out of his mind.

" We're going to start sending people back to that planet soon. Rufus, I want you to lead the operation, since you don't have anything better to do."

"Understood sir."

"And Robotnik? I need you to sort out a new plan of outposts on Char. It seems whoever set them up last time has let us down, as the people and the space station near that planet have been overrun by the ugly creatures on that planet, the Zerg."

Dr Robotnik looked a little worried. "J..Just the Zerg sir? Haven't you heard of the communications from the warships?"

Keaton raised an eyebrow. "What warships? The ones I sent to clean up the place? Of course not. I've wanted peace and quiet, cancelling all reports untill you two came along."

"Well…sir…there have been disturbing reports from them. Being under attack, outgunned and outmanoeuvred by unknown vessels."

"…Explain."

Rufus decided to sum it up. "You allowed the so few warships we have around there go and check, and they got owned by aliens from the tenth dimension who demand that we hand over all of our cute cuddly toys."

Keaton gave him a frown, before Dr Robotnik gave a more proper explanation. "The reports say of the unknown vessels carrying Phasers and photon torpedo technology much like the United Federation of Planets, and they appear to be cube shaped, with heavy shielding, as they were receiving little damage from the fighters. One of the captains sent a message claiming they were the 'Borg' sir."

Keaton went silent, though the expression on his face gave it away what he was thinking…who or what the fuck are the Borg? And by the looks of it, he was expecting Robotnik to have an answer.

Thankfully he did. "I believe I've heard of them before somewhere, within a few obscure records. They're cyborg's, with the intent of making everything around them into a part of their….collective, I believe it's called. If they have UFP type technology, it's safe to say they come from that area of space."

The Grand Commander sat back and put his hands together, placing them just under his chin. "Then why, do you think, are they in our space? I've never heard of them attacking before untill now, and no reports of cube like vessels have come up before."

Rufus easily had a guess. "Invasion. Allies of the UFP. You have pissed them off a fair bit with this war of yours sir. And maybe they already know you'll be pointing all our little battleships back at them, now Darkmega is cleared out the way."

Keaton, for those few times, had to agree with Rufus on that possibility. "Then we need them shoved out of our territory and back into theirs. Robotnik, you and the Master Chief will work on that at once."

Dr Robotnik bowed. "As you command, sir….and sir, we have, other worrying reports…of a large machine-like planet in the GF territory…"

* * *

A day later, at 10:30am…

"Right, now Darkmega, I believe everything is in good order. I want you to get up from the table and walk a few steps."

The voice was Dr Light, as he was in the labs of the Hero Base, with Dr Wily, Dr Yuichiro and Dr Regal, all of them watching, as Darkmega had got up from the table, and finally walked again after all this time of repairing.

Dr Wily smiled at this result. "Good, good! I thought some of our repairs wouldn't actually work out, but it appears that we've got you back to what you should be!"

"Perhaps Medi should give him a health check. Afterall we do plan of having him stay here this time round." Dr Light suggested.

Dr Wily nodded in agreement, but Dr Yuichiro wasn't impressed. "Father, Darkmega is still very dangerous. We should keep him in the labs."

"Oh nonsense son! I think he learnt his lesson from what he did last time." Dr Light said, with an approving smile to Darkmega.

"That's what you always said about Wily back in the days of the robot masters invasions!"

Dr Light just shrugged it off. "So Darkmega, I'll take you to the hospital and let Medi check you, then I think we need to get you more used to what's here and where your room will be."

Darkmega gave him a sweet smile. "Gee, really? Thanks doc!"

As soon as Dr Light and Darkmega left the labs, Dr Regal spoke up. "Yuichiro is onto something father. I'm already getting the feeling Darkmega is going to pull a fast one on us."

Dr Wily frowned at his son. "Please, we're in a base, with heroes of across the Galactic Federation. What could he possibly do?"

Dr Regal just stared at him.

Dr Wily soon sighed. "Fine, yes, he could easily cause chaos with this bunch of misfits…"

Meanwhile, in the hospital, Medi was busy tending to Quickman, checking up on his arm after the incident with Richard. Thankfully the restoration of his arm had gone fine, and now after a couple of days, the arm needed to be seen to just to make sure it's working fully. "Well, it seems it's all normal and nothings wrong with it. You'll live sugar."

Quickman got off the medical bed. "Cool. Thanks Medi. Chad is gonna be happy with this. I can get back to ass kicking again!"

Medi smiled at him for his eagerness to get moving. "Yes yes I'm sure he will be. Go on, get going, you're fine."

Quickman soon left, just as Darkmega and Dr Light entered…making the speedy Navi give Dr Light a strange look, before heading into the main room.

Medi looked at Darkmega in confusion, as Dr Light got him to sit down on a medical bed. "Uhhh…Dr Light? Isn't this-"

Dr Light quickly interrupted. "This is Darkmega Medi. I want him to have a health check-up. His going to become a member of this base. I want everything checked and recorded."

Medi looked a little worried, but shook it off. "Of course doctor."

The moment Dr Light left, she turned to Darkmega, smiling sweetly. "Well now, I'm Medi. The Nurse of the Hero Base."

Darkmega smiled at her. "Hello there Medi. I must say, you look wonderful today. Very sexy. I'm Dark Megaman, but call me what the doc said, Darkmega."

Medi was a taken aback with that response, but, it was nice to have someone say something sweet to her…even if it is a psycho.

Darkmega didn't give a damn with what he was saying though. As Medi begun the check-up, he was planning in his mind…he was going to get the hell out of here, and kill these fools, and that old man that dragged him here. They think he'll just turn into a nice guy? Hah! He gave the message about Unicron now, he could do as he damn well pleases!

He looked to Medi, as she had gently removed his helmet, showing his dark navy blue hair. He was looking right into her eyes, making her blush a little…not just yet though. There was no need to strike untill the right time, and this wasn't it.

Anyway, he needs a few allies…and a medical woman could prove useful…

"So." Medi said, as she had now removed all of his clothing except for a pair of purple boxers he was wearing, and got him to lay down. "How do you feel right now after what happened?"

"Oh, you know, sad, depressed, wish I really didn't do it. I'm just glad I've been given this chance to turn a new leaf…" He looked into her eyes again, just as she was checking his wrist's pulse. "…you have beautiful eyes, ya know that?"

She couldn't help but be flattered. "Well, thank you Darkmega."

* * *

Elsewhere in the base, Chad had just got himself out of bed, and was in his bathroom, dressed, and just cleaning his teeth…something told him that things weren't gonna be good today, he just knew it.

He then heard knocking on his door. He washed the toothpaste out of his mouth and dried his mouth on a towel before shouting "Come in! it's unlocked!".

He left his bathroom, and saw that it was Charlie who had knocked and entered. "Oh hey Charlie, what's up?"

"Dr Light sent for me to fetch ya. Something about Darkmega and he needs to have a word with you."

Chad felt it was gonna include either something to do with Darkmega breaking free, or that his not allowed to go near the asshole because of their past experience…He soon departed his room with Charlie and followed him to the main room, where Dr Light was waiting for him.

It took no longer then 20 minutes for Dr Light to explain what he had to say…

had has stayed in the main room afterwards, and Anna was now there, with Xiahou Dun, Forte, Serious Sam, Charlie, Quickman and Samus….Chad had decided to tell them what Dr Light wanted him to do.

"YOU WHAT!? ARE YOU FUCKING BULLSHITTING ME!?" was Anna's calm, collected response.

Chad sighed. "It's true Anna. He wants me to keep an eye on Darkmega and help him as much as possible around the base, help him get comfy here. He feels that if something was to happen, I could sort it…if Darkmega attacks someone or they attack him. I tried to explain I hate him but the old bastard wouldn't have none of it!"

Samus shook her head. "Well this is going to end well…"

Quickman felt sorry for his owner. "Chad. If you want to go psycho and kill the old guys, just say and we'll be there to support you all the way."

Chad shook his head. "Thanks but no thanks. I'm just gonna have to suck it up and do what he wants for now. Once Darkmega has had his check-up in the hospital, I've got to escort him to his room and make sure everything is to his liking."

"To his liking? Expect him to ask for a few guns and explosives then. And an army of heartless to his beck and call." Forte said.

Anna shook her head in disbelief, refusing to accept it. "They can't be serious! This is Darkmega! He shoved us off Earth X! what's to stop him from doing it again here on Zebes!?"

Chad replied. "Apparently I will. To the docs point of view."

* * *

Meanwhile, at the borderline between the UFP space and GF space, the USS Enterprise was floating there, along with an Excelsior Class vessel called the USS Crazyhorse, and a Nebula Class vessel called the USS Kolto.

After sending the data they had gathered from the incident of the Outpost being destroyed, and the reports from the USS Crazyhorse, which had seen the huge machine a while before it's attack on the station, Captain Picard and his officers were sitting in the Enterprise meeting room, just receiving a report from the admiral of the border fleet. Admiral Forester, an old man with a short white beard, blue eyes and short white hair.

His voice was gentle, yet aged, as he was seen on their view screen in the meeting room, sitting in his office. "After going through what you found, we may have gathered what you and the others saw. In the Galactic Federation archives, the ones we managed to look into before things got bad with them, they knew of an ancient race called the Chozo. Our scientists had gathered plenty of information from their historical records before the alliance broke apart…one of them bears a worrying similarity to what you saw."

Then on their view screen, a digital 3D picture of Unicron appeared. Admiral Forester's voice was heard over it. "The thing is called a 'Unicron'. a monster planet, which, according to the Chozo, can devour anything in it's path. It's no doubt the same thing you had encountered, and what had eaten the space station."

There was a sense of concern felt in the meeting room, as Picard looked at his officers for a moment, before looking back at the screen. "Admiral, will it no doubt come back this way?"

"I'm afraid so…Unicron, according to Chozo Lore, is very much sentient, and wishes no more then to feast on every single thing in the universe….if anything, we need to put a stop to it before it does anymore damage."

William Riker spoke up. "Admiral, that could be a problem. A border space station couldn't stop it, and they were more armed then us, and it's now in the Galactic Federation territory."

The 3D look of Unicron vanished, as the admiral's face returned to the screen. "I know that Riker…that's why I'm going to suggest to Starfleet we create a treaty between us, and the Galactic Federation. Hopefully if we work together, we can get enough firepower to stop this thing dead in it's tracks. Unicron is a danger to everyone, and needs to be our top priority. Their petty war with us can wait."

Picard thought about this for a moment.. "Admiral, I doubt the Galactic Federation will listen, especially with that Keaton Al'Keriff in command of their fleets."

"I think he will listen, especially since we've also found out some other worrying information from another part of the border…the Borg are on the move."

"The Borg?"

The admiral nodded grimly. "We've had reports of several Borg vessels passing by our borders, and heading into GF territory…matching the directions you gave of where Unicron was heading."

"Do you think they're working with Unicron?"

"It's very possible Jean-Luc. I want the Enterprise to be prepared to enter Galactic Federation space shortly. We'll try to make a treaty, the moment we do Picard, I want you, along with a tactical fleet I'll assign to you, to head into their territory and find the Borg. Your knowledge of them is far more then anyone else…we could use that right now."

Picard nodded. "Understood, we'll be ready."

Then, the view screen switched off, as Picard turned to his officers. Data spoke up. "Sir, if I may suggest, we should prepare the vessel by re-routing power for combat against multiple Borg Cubes."

"Agreed. You and La Forge can get right on it. Everyone, dismissed."

* * *

In the void of space, slowly coming into view, was a ruined GF warships, broken in half, bodies slowly floating out of it's shattered hull…four other warships were seen in the same condition, as two Borg Cubes moved past the remains, heading onwards to their destination, Unicron. This had been the Cubes fourth group of GF ships trying to stop them. One of the Cubes did look battered now over the fights, with heavy damage and holes in it. The repairs were slow, but progressing.

Richard was onboard the less damaged vessel, leaning against one of the walls, idly watching the Borg drones go around the Cube. The Zerg were around as well, although they weren't as comfortable with the Borg as he was. They often snarled and hissed at the cyborgs as they passed the creatures, but they took no heed to their vocal threats.

Soon, he heard a voice inside his mind…Unicron. **"Richard, I sense that you have collected our allies, and met those I had found on the way."**

Richard nodded. And seemed to speak to himself, to the Borg and Zerg's view. "Yep. So now we got some help, what's the next job?"

**"Once the Borg have returned you to me, I wish for you to stay ****within my body****…I believe now, with the Zerg at your side, you are in need of some, training…and we need to speak of the Borg themselves.."**

Richard nodded once again, understanding the message. The Borg cubes continued to fly on, in the vastness of space, before them, yet another few GF warships…another pointless battle.

* * *

Medi had finished checking Darkmega over, and allowed him to get dressed, smiling at him as he was. "So, Darkmega. I take it you actually plan to stay for quite sometime hm?"

Darkmega finally got his helmet back on and nodded. "Of course sweet thing. For a very long time."

Medi was really starting to like this guy now, blushing a little once again at the "sweet thing". She has received comments before, from the likes of Xiahou Dun, Ken, and even Sam, but Darkmega's felt, genuine, not just because she healed them up from getting their asses handed to them by the others.

"Well Darkmega, it's safe to say your perfectly fine on the outside and it seems your vital parts are working. I'll put everything down in the data files about you, and make you an official member of the base. Later on sometime I would like to do an internal scan of your mainframe, as you're a Navi and all, it's a normal procedure."

"Alright then."

"Now if you head on to the main room, someone should be there, ready to show you around and take you to your room." Medi then turned away, and walked to the computer of the hospital, sitting down at it.

Darkmega smirked and said to her, before leaving. "I hope you're the sort of nurse that does house calls, because if I need anyone to check me, I would love it to be you."

As he left, Medi could safely confirm to herself she had someone else to like a lot now…

It was the moment Darkmega stepped out of the hospital, he found himself face to face with Chad, who was frowning a fair bit. "….annddd what's your problem right now chaddy boy?"

Other then Chad in the main room, there was Liu Bei, Ryu and Mr T. Liu Bei was discussing with Ryu about a hologram program, which by the sounds of it, involved one of the battles on Earth V, and Mr T was busy using a computer to look for something…well was, untill he saw Darkmega and watched quietly, as did Liu Bei and Ryu.

Chad raised his hand, and in it, was a keycard, which he, in a rather brunt manner, gave to Darkmega. "The key to your room. follow me." He soon started walking off, with Darkmega following, knowing what was going on.

"Oh I see, so from the person that hates my guts to my little guide hm? Oh haven't you got the best luck in the world Chad!"

"Shut up before I royally kick your ass again."

Darkmega was smiling evilly, all the way to his room, in corridor 5, room 9. Chad and him Stopped outside, and Chad turned towards him and then gave him a Com-Link, just like he did with the Keycard. "Alright you, I'll give you a brief explanation. Hologram rooms are in Corridor 20. All 4 halls there. Corridor 21 holds two meeting rooms, and two training rooms. Food hall is in Corridor 22, and there as well is Ridley's Bar so you can get stone drunk and leave us the fuck alone passed out on the floor. In your room is a bathroom, your bedroom, with your own computer, cupboard and drawers. The Com-Links in the base have trackers installed in them and Dr Light has given me permission to track where you are I so can watch. I'm also to watch over you and…help you, 'interact' with people here in my spare time as much as possible. That's all you need to know."

Darkmega looked at him false sadness. "Aww, but Chad, I need to know which room you're in, incase I get scared by my lonely self…"

"Fuck off and get in that room." And with that, Chad stormed off.

Darkmega laughed a little at Chad's reaction, and used his Keycard to get in his room…it was basic and simple, but it would do for now. The first thing to do was to lock the door and just relax on that bed, then maybe get Chad to take him to Ridley's Bar…afterall, they let him in with open arms, the best thing would be to make those not so easily relaxed let down their guard, get to think his really turned a new leaf.

He chucked the Com-Link on the metal Side drawer next to his bed, and locked the door, before laying down on the bed itself, which had a purple cover to match his suit, and two white fluffy pillows. It was rather comfy, he had to admit, they've improved on the bedding since the Earth base..

* * *

Night time soon came, and inside the labs at 11pm, was Dr Yuichiro, and his was sitting down at the lab computer, staring at it's screen, which had a message on it…unsure if he should send it…

Yuichiro was afraid of it all happening again, it kept running through his mind all afternoon and evening…he was frightened for his wife Hakura and his sons Lan and Hub, he knows that Darkmega would, no doubt, target them like the rest. And as for the rest, they surely wouldn't be able to stop Darkmega. As Dr Wily said, they are a band of misfits, to a degree…that was something he normally wouldn't agree with, but this one time, he had to.

On the other hand, maybe Darkmega is really turning over a new leaf, and his just panicking over nothing at all. Maybe things will finally settle down, and perhaps they can all return to Earth X, keeping this as a base for emergencies or something.

He weighed both possible things in his mind, and it decided pretty quickly itself on the right answer.

He decided to send the message, which was to the only person he felt could help them right now, Dr Ivo Robotnik.

It read.

'_To: Doctor Ivo Robotnik._

_From: Doctor Y__. Light_

_Robotnik,_

_I need you help me. It appears that the incident with Darkmega has made my Father and Dr Wily none the wiser. Darkmega was defeated no more then a few days ago, and now after finding him battered to almost deletion, they have repaired him completely._

_Not only that, they have welcomed him into the base with open arms. I had spoken to my father earlier this evening, but he felt things would be perfectly fine. I cannot follow the same feeling as he does._

_I don't know what to do. Perhaps you could ask the Grand Commander Keaton Al'Keriff to do something, perhaps take Darkmega somewhere more secure, or even, against my fathers wishes, destroy him. It would make many people here feel more relaxed then what they are at the moment._

_I hope you can help somehow._

_-Dr __Y. Light__.__'_

* * *

In Midgar, Dr Robotnik was sitting at his desk, three floors down from the office of Keaton, looking into plans for an effective way to deal with the Borg, from the little information he had from the UFP database before the alliance was terminated.

After Telling Keaton of the possible giant planet and even suggesting it could be the legendary Unicron, Keaton dismissed it and simply said that without actual proof of the machine existing from these reports, they could easily be mistaken for sensor glitches.

Rufus had pointed out the very thing Robotnik was thinking as they both left his office. "Since when did sensor glitches include huge machine planets?"

Dr Robotnik pushed his wheelie chair backwards a little and looked outside his office for a moment, and saw Master Chief, Busy speaking with Cortana by the looks of it, who had been checking the reports and any new data from the battleships that had clashed, and been destroyed, by the Borg, to see if there was any weakness noted…none came up so far.

Cortana had her own PET device. A PET, short for Personal Terminal, was shaped like a Gameboy Advance, is the device that is used to carry an owned Net Navi. Whenever they wish to use it, as the case is nowadays. It has the buttons and control pad on the left side, Navi's crest symbol on the right, and the screen displaying Net Navi via on the actual screen or a small holographic display above the screen, in the middle. On the right side of the device was a slot-in point for battlechips, and at the left side was a data chip slot-in point.

Although the Navi's of today can use battlechips by themselves, they do gain an increase in power to the chips (and less energy from the Navi's) if they're inserted into the PET, rather then directly to the Navi. The PET gives the chips an extra kick, which could decide between victory and defeat, and turn the tide easily to the Navi that has his/her OP ready with the PET in their favour.

Her PET was a Dark Blue colour, with no symbol on it, to show that she is no Net Navi, and no slot in point for battlechips. At one point during her creation, she was given to choice to be a Navi or a hologram. She chose the latter because she felt it would be easier to use the space in her mainframe for more useful things other then breathing, eating, drinking, using battlechips and weapons and having sex. The PET was granted to her when she wanted her own space rather then either being stuck in a ship computer, an office computer or in Master Chief's helmet.

Robotnik pushed himself back to his desk, only to see that a message had arrived for him. He opened it, and read it carefully…

He was certainly surprised, as he rolled his chair backwards again, and called out for the Chief to come here and have a look. He quickly came over and looked at the message with Dr Robotnik.

Cortana appeared in her hologram form on her PET screen, looking at the message as well. "Well, seems like they're getting themselves into trouble again."

"At least they've decided to ask us for help. Seems like Dr Yuichiro wants Dark Megaman dealt with as quick as possible." Master Chief replied.

Robotnik thought this over for a moment, before responding. "Hmm, if we inform Keaton, no doubt he'll go to the extreme and actually send an entire force there to arrest not only Dark Megaman, but everyone. He'll easily use this as an excuse to slam them all in jail, for attempting to 'create a high level danger to the peace of the Galactic Federation.'"

Cortana looked at him. "Your right, that's what the bastard would do if he got wind of this. Maybe we can inform the High Ministers directly, and suggest to them not to tell Keaton, because his busy with other affairs."

"Or perhaps we should just tell him."

Dr Robotnik knew the voice, and looked outside his office, with Master Chief, to see Rufus standing there, looking at them, and walking in.

Master Chief was the first one to respond to what he said. "Rufus?"

"Let's tell Keaton, get him worked up over these people once again. Why should it matter to us? It only means he'll leave us alone again, no doubt wanting to be there for the big moment."

Cortana raised an eyebrow at him, noticing a hint of a plan in his voice. "…Why would you want Keaton to leave? If he does capture all of them, he'll be boasting about it for days on end."

"Because, my dear, if he leaves, Robotnik and I can continue on our own plans without him breathing down our necks all day long and watching what we're doing on the machines."

Robotnik quickly hissed "Rufus!"

Master Chief looked at Dr Robotnik, then at Rufus, and quickly added two and two together. "Your both not loyal to him at all, are you?"

Rufus turned and looked at Master Chief. "People grow tired of him Chief. His days are numbered. While you and Cortana were flying around with him, we had been gathering reports…and sending messages out to the commanders that we know are tired of him, telling them of our plans. We're close to a time of change in this empire. People shouldn't follow fools that simply pay out the checks and makes everything quiet to the universe, and use a puppet. To fight a wasteful war with two potential forces that we could easily use. The people need a real leader."

Cortana shook her head. "And, you see yourself as that leader, am I right? The High Ministers wouldn't agree to that. They would rather-"

"They, will be dead, miss Cortana."

There was silence for a moment, before Master Chief spoke up. " Why have you told us this? We could easily inform Keaton of your ideas."

"Because I know you're tired of him as much as we are. I know he sees you as a lowly solider, and Cortana as data formed into a woman, nothing more. He doesn't care for his officers or those close to him." Rufus looked to the computer screen. "You can join us, or go and tell him about all this. I will not bribe you. I know your potential, and what you can do for everyone."

Master Chief went silent, and looked at Cortana…

The choice for them both was perfectly clear.

Cortana turned and looked at the computer screen. "So, do you think Keaton will be awake right now to find out about Dark Megaman being alive again? Or should be disturb his beauty sleep?"

* * *

Chad yawned, as he was woken up by the sound of, what he thought he heard, was someone knocking on his door, his hair all scruffy, and turned his head to look at the clock on his room's wall…it was 8:15 in the morning. He was looking around for a window at one moment, like he always did, only to remember, they were underground…no daylight, only the light that he had left on all night as he dozed off.

He got himself up, went to the bathroom and sorted himself out, before going to his cupboard and getting a usual set of clothing. Red shirt, black jacket, jeans…the norm for him. Like a lot of heroes, they preferred to keep wearing their normal attire rather then change it, so copies of their clothing is supplied by the docs. All dirty laundry was sent via teleport to the washrooms in corridor 23. You had to place it in the small basket left in the corner of the room, and it had a device on top of it which alerted the network for instant teleport once the lid was closed again. The washroom was manned by robots, created by Dr Light for the job, which would then teleport the clothing back to their rooms once done, on the bed, for the person to hang up again.

Chad sighed as he forgot to tell Darkmega about this, but he didn't mind…hell, in his opinion, his hoping Darkmega won't be around that long to use it.

He heard a knock on his door, knowing this time someone was there, and went over to open it. Charlie was standing there, with Darkmega….lovely way to start the day, Chad thought to himself.

Charlie smiled a little and waved at him. "Hey kid. Someone's not allowed to go to the Food Hall alone yet, ordered by the docs."

Darkmega now smiled at him.

"Oh goody." Chad mumbled. He then set off with Charlie and Darkmega to the Food Hall. At least he didn't have to walk with the bastard by himself, Charlie was willing enough to go with them.

They soon entered, and noticed everyone else was already there. Chad and the other two went up to the kitchen area, which was again, manned by robot Dr Light created. All robots that help in the base are made by him…Dr Wily was more then willing to help, but after all the incidents, Thomas's trust in Albert's 'Super Pwnage' Programming skills wasn't so high as it used to be.

Soon after Chad had to explain that he could pretty much have anything he wanted as long as it was in stock, he got himself a bacon sandwich, while Darkmega got himself a cooked breakfast, with egg, bacon, sausages, fried bread, baked beans and mushrooms. Charlie had pretty much the same thing, just with four slices of bacon instead of one.

They found a table where Anna, Mr T, Zhang He, Quickman and Zhang Liao were at, and sat down with them, with Chad sitting next to Mr T, and having Darkmega next to him, with Anna smiling at Chad from the other side of the round table…and giving Darkmega a horrible glare.

Mr T was chomping down his full on breakfast when he looked to Chad and said "sup' Chad? You lookin' a little down."

"Hey T. I'm good, just looking after our…new friend, here."

Darkmega smiled and waved at Mr T, who wasn't one to not speak his mind. "I don't trust that sucka for nothing. Why the hell is he here?"

Anna answered that, as Chad had started to eat. "It's because we don't have much of a choice T."

"Oh we got a choice alright, we can kick his ass and chuck him outta here!"

Darkmega looked offended a little. "Oh now come Mr T! I haven't said anything against you and yet you're so hostile to me! I'm shocked! I've different from before, I've turned over a new leaf!"

Mr T grumbled, before going back to his food. "Yeah right, a pity da foo' who believes that shit.."

They all just ate in silence from there…well untill Zhang He spoke. "Ugh! Charlie, how could you eat that!? That will ruin your beautiful toned body, with all that greasy food and fattening meat!"

Charlie just stared at him, with a mouthful of bacon, which a little bit of it was sticking out of his mouth, making Zhang He looked away in disgust, untill he ate and swallowed it. "..wait, what was that about my body?"

"Your wonderful body! Those toned chest muscles! Why do you try to ruin such beauty?"

"…Zhang He, this food isn't nothing to me…and leave my body alone."

Chad looked at Anna as this was happening. "….Seriously? This guy as a good friend to you?"

Anna shrugged. "His fine for me Chad. At least his effective with those claws of his."

Zhang He smiled at her, and noticed Charlie was listening, and looked at him. "And that's not all I'm effective with…I'm quite effective with certain 'skills' in the bedroom…"

Charlie stared at him for a moment, grabbed his plate, got up, and went to find another table. Quickman and Zhang Liao had quickly done the same thing, Quickman going over to where Megaman was sitting, and Zhang Liao going over to where his lord Cao Cao was, who was currently having a heated discussion with Sun Jian, by the sounds of the insults going around.

* * *

It was now 13:53...and Keaton was happy.

He was brimming, sitting at his desk, reading the letter over and over, with Master Chief, Dr Robotnik and Rufus waiting there. There as well, was a cyborg, who Keaton had called up this morning to come to Gaia VII A.S.A.P.

His name, was Grievous, General Grievous. Famous for once bringing many victories to CSI, then defecting to the GF to serve them for greater pay, and even greater glory, as he had quickly gained the respect and fame he felt he rightfully deserved, matching to his unbelievable skill with weaponry and his agile attacks. He even created one of the greatest units in the history of the GF, the unit called 'Unit 666; The Devil's Pride'.

Formed in 2027 A.P, a simple band of 25 people with special skills and gifts, They struck fear into all rebels and enemies to the Galactic Federation, crushing them all down, and nearly bringing a reign of peace, for a time, untill 2034 A.P, when Grievous disbanded the Unit, after 12 of it's members had mysteriously vanished, and felt a disconnection with the other members…for a time he also retired in that year, but soon returned in 2040 A.P when Keaton needed him to assist the attacks on the Galactic Empire, scoring victories in several dozen skirmishes.

He stood there, knowing he was called in for a reason.

Soon Keaton looked up at them all. "So, the heroes have decided to assist in repairing a danger to this empire, hm?"

Dr Robotnik nodded. "Yes sir."

"And it seems Dr Yuichiro Light wants us to do something about it."

Master Chief replied. "Yes sir."

Keaton really gave a smile, and with an overjoyed tone, as if he finally got something his always wanted, he said "And we will…gentlemen, today is the day I declare that all of these 'heroes' are to be arrested for actions against the Galactic Federation. For bringing back a potential threat."

Rufus sighed out of boredom. "Grand Commander, you can't just go around and declare things like that, especially when we have a High Minister in that very base. You can't arrest him."

"No, that's true, but he can come back with them anyway. I'll argue the case to the other High Ministers once I return with them. Ha, the fools didn't like it when Dark Megaman went rampant before, I doubt they'll listen to their colleague if he tries to defend them." He stood up. "I going to assemble several squads of troopers and to go to that planet at once. Grievous. You're coming with me, and so are you Master Chief. Your previous duty with the Borg is now forgotten, this is your top priority."

Master Chief nodded. "Yes Grand Commander."

"Rufus, Dr Robotnik. You handle the affairs with the Borg." Keaton soon marched out of the office as quick as possible, with Grievous and Master Chief following right behind.

Within a mere few hours, Keaton was onboard his flagship once again, as it begun to head into space, alone. On the bridge, stood Keaton, with his arms crossed, smiling, to his right, Master Chief, with Cortana in her hologram form coming out of the small panel near him, and to his left, general Grievous, staring into the deep void of space, waiting like his commander.

Keaton laughed a little, and said to himself. "Finally, a reason to lock you rogue bastards up…soon you'll be in my hands…Master Chief, has that data girl got the coordinates ready for Light speed?"

Master Chief looked at Cortana, who nodded at him…just only a matter of time to put up with him. "Yes sir. We're ready."

* * *

1. PET's are based off the stream PET's of the Rockman Anime. Google it for visual glance.

2. Unit 666 and it's members will be explained more much later. Or if Chad hints to some of them, whatever happens.

-Dragonridley


	10. Running to the land called Brinstar

Ridley looked around in his bar, making sure everyone had a drink in their hands. This evening was a full house, then again, a lot of the evenings lately have been. There hasn't been much to do for the people here but get drunk or work out in the hologram rooms. Zebes is a pretty boring place if you hate exploring dangerous planets.

Sitting at the bar right now, from one end to another, was Charlie, Chad, Darkmega, Zhang He, Anna, Jak and Daxter, Zhang Liao, Samus, Yan Liang and Wen Chou. They all seemed quite content right now…well, except for Chad. Ridley could see he wasn't happy with his current situation of babysitting.

Yan Liang and Wen Chou were the generals of Yuan Shao's army, his personnel champions, as he likes to see them as. They were muscled like tanks and wore tough, steel golden coloured armour, but they like to drink more then fight. Yan Liang was the brighter light bulb of the duo, while Wen Chou was the one who would smack his head against a wall just to prove a point his skull was thick.

Anna was enjoying herself right now, just ordered another Blue Blurr, and taking a sip of it, before looking at Ridley. "Ya know Ridley, I gotta ask you…what IS this made of?"

This was the question Ridley dread. He looked at her. "Well, I'm not sure if you wanna hear it Anna, I mean, after the last drink you enjoyed then hated because of it's contents…"

Anna was kinda hoping that wouldn't be the reply. She looked at the drink carefully, in worry, and then looked at Ridley again. "Ridley…what's in it?"

"Well Anna, the purple part is made of Tajon berries. There's a ton of 'em in Brinstar. I just mixed them with a little bit of alcohol."

Anna sighed in relief. She knew what they were and knew they were safe, maybe this wasn't going to be so bad afterall. "And the blue part?"

"Wellll…ya know the species that live on the planet, Ki Hunters? Well, it's from them, actually from their faeces. See, when they crap, they leave a blue residue on the stuff. If you collect it within three to five hours after, it's actually safe and drinkable. I store it in containers. Me and the pirates used to have shots of the liquid, goes down a treat for us, high in alcohol content too-"

Anna was gone.

She had shot out of the bar, running down the corridors to find the nearest toilets to vomit up in. Zhang He had left his drink to follow her.

Zhang Liao looked at Ridley in surprise. "You actually gave her slime off shit to drink?…can I have one?"

Ridley shook his head. that's another drink Anna will never touch again. He soon saw Samus moving her glass towards his side of the bar. "Ridley. Another GF basic." Samus was looking in her tipsy stage of the evening, her face going a little red. Ridley knew now was the time to start counting down her drinks, from five.

As he poured out a pint of beer for her in her same old glass, he never understood why she always wanted the cheapest beer around. Galactic Federation Planetary Beer as it was called, tasted no better then piss from any creature. Granted the benefit was it only costs 50 gil a pint, and it had a decent alcohol content, but still, she could go for a better tasting one.

She dropped the gil on the side as Ridley passed her the glass and took the money. "thanks" she mumbled, before beginning to drink that pint down.

Darkmega was drinking a pint of the same stuff. After seeing Anna go by, he smirked and looked at Chad. "Oh dear, looks like your girlfriend is a little ill Chad. Maybe you should go and see to her? Oh wait! You can't! you gotta watch me! And I have no intention of watching you observe her vomit!"

Chad glared at him. For the whole day today his been stuck with Darkmega, and it's really gotten to a point where he could snap. "She's not my girlfriend."

"Oh she isn't? awwww poor Chad. No girlfriend. Is it because the tool you got is a little too small for her? Is it perhaps your just a poor moron?"

His been picking on Chad like no tomorrow thanks to Dr Light informing Chad that Darkmega is not to be harmed by him or anyone in the base. "Oh shut up."

"Nah, I'd rather not. See, I might as well enjoy myself because sooner or later Unicron is gonna eat us all up. I can taunt and annoy you day in, day out. And you gotta take it, because Dr Light doesn't want me harmed, I'm a good guy now, and there's no-"

Smack.

Darkmega found himself on the floor, with pain going through his right cheek. Chad was standing up now, looking down at him in anger, his left hand clenched into a fist. He stormed out of the bar, unable to stay there. Darkmega was stunned. Something in him had just resurfaced, something he felt when he was saved by that old man.

Fear. For a moment, he feared Chad was going to do far more, fear that Chad was able to very much hit him, against what Dr Light had said. Charlie and Ridley had soon helped Darkmega back on his feet, and got him to sit down. "Hey, you alright?" Charlie asked.

Darkmega could only nod, as he was watching the door.

* * *

On the Planet Gaia VII, in a place called Junior harbour, there was a meeting going on. A meeting of the High Ministers of the Galactic Federation.

They often use this place for regular meetings, updates on current events and funds and such. Ever since Keaton has been seen as a puppet emperor to them, their meetings have increased, to keep checks on what was going, on things which the emperor would be doing.

There was 14 of them present, all sitting at a long, wooden table, all preparing themselves. The High Ministers consist of 10 humans, which to them, must be that amount, and all from within the Galactic Federation, and 5 outsiders, all from outside the GF itself, but their homes and forces are in an alliance with them, if only just to stop them getting aggressive and attacking.

One outsider was King Mickey. He decided that for the best, the worlds that were under his care should agree to the GF's terms when they first arrived. He refused to try any sort of war with a much larger enemy. The terms included their policy of world order be removed, and that all communications between their planets must be restored, much to the dismay of Mickey, as it had taken a very long time to create that order.

Another was King Tulbull. Lord of the species of Sayians which hold several dozen worlds bordered near the Farside, in a neutral, aka non-trade alliance with the GF, the Wisdom Sayians. They are known for their vast knowledge and power. They have white hair and tails, and often speak in a calm and confident manner, unless someone really messes them around. They refused to make trade routes because they felt that the GF was a 'fleeting' thing, that it will fade away and be taken over by something else.

Next to him was Aldaris, head of the race known as the Protoss. They have stayed allied with the human empire since the founding days of SCI. Of all outsiders, Aldaris is the one that normally gets listened to if any suggestions for policies and ideas come from him, as the human High Ministers hold the most respect for him.

The Protoss had been known for helping isolating and trapping the Zerg on contained planets, and even assisting in the suppression of several large criminal groups in the GF. They have been assisting in monitoring the Drakon Empire, even making the odd attempt at invading their planet, but so far, with or without GF support, they haven't won.

Across to the other side of the table, was a creature that required no seat to rest on, as he had no legs. He was the head of the Hero Ministry, which normally keep an eye on all the known listed heroes within the GF, due to having so many, and pays them monthly for being a member and gives them extra for doing good deeds and such.

His name to the public is Back Lo Dom. To the ministers and Keaton, it's Black Doom, head of not only the Ministry, but once of his own race, the Black Arms, who have long since to his claims, taken control of themselves. His not actually seen in any public news, as he often allows Captain America, his Second in command, to handle public things, thus making him known in name only.

His race, the Black Arms, are a force just on the edge of the GF territory. To Black Dooms claims, they have acted by themselves lately, as his focus has been the Ministry, and begun a three way struggle between themselves, the Protoss and the GF for the Drakon Empire's planet, being a third party force, trying to invade the planet whenever they possibly could. So far, along with the others, they have been defeated. They've also begun wars just outside the GF territory against several different species. The High Ministry feel they aren't a direct threat to their empire, and have left them to do whatever they want, as they lack any special technology or knowledge.

Besides him was his rival in the business. A cruel woman with a heart of stone and a dark aura around her. Her name was Maleficent, and she was head of the Villain Ministry, who are the polar opposite to the Hero Ministry in it's members. They get paid monthly, and get paid extra for any notable evil deeds.

Unlike what many people think, they have an agreed term with the Hero Ministry, as both sides need to keep the other going in order to keep themselves going. If the Villain Ministry was defeated and disbanded, the Hero Ministry would slowly fade away, and vice versa…kind of. Unlike the Hero Ministry, the Villain one has made aggressive moves on the GF now and then, but that's only to spark public interest and give out big work to both sides.

There was only 9 human members today because, once again, Yuan Shao failed to turn up, for the 12th time running. He often forgets the day, or just simply fails to check his messages sent to him to remind him. Either way, it's an impressive feat if he ever turns up.

A man with medium long blonde hair and green eyes, looking in his 40s stood up, looking at them all. This was Dante Yuki. He could be classed as the head of them, as he often begins the meetings and ends them with their next objectives. The objectives used to come home the top, the actual emperor, but since Keaton was simply a puppet emperor, Dante Yuki was pretty much calling the shots, with the other human Ministers.

"Everyone, welcome once again. I see the usual has not turned up, and we can safely say he won't. no doubt his business with those heroes isolated on Zebes is more important. Now, down to business. First things first, I would like to give out congratulations to Maleficent and Black Doom for their roles in promoting not only their heroes and villains, but also our GF force. Although there were damages to streets and such on the planet Kigh II, the coalitions of villains versus the heroes really made the people grateful for our police force.

And we must give a special thank you to Maleficent especially. The underground villain base that Magneto founded had actually stumbled upon a gold mine. We'll soon be collecting from there, and of course, Maleficent and her villains will get their share of the profits."

There was a positive murmur going around.

"Of course, with the good news, there is some bad news. I'm sure some of you already know, but it appears we have a problem. A big problem. A machine like planet has entered our territory, along with it, reports of Borg activity, an old enemy to the United Federation of Planets, who, along with the Galactic Empire, have been sending messages, asking for a truce. Now this wouldn't be a worrying thing since our forces are well trained and effective at their job, but the issue is, people have been saying it's…Unicron. And that its because of him, that our neighbour empires have been trying to contact us."

Well so much for the positive murmur. Panic was seen in several of the Ministers, Mickey was the first to speak up. "Unicron?! The planet destroyer?! I thought he was just legend, a myth? Not real!"

Black Doom shook his head. "Unicron, is very much real. The writings of the Chozo had shown the exploits of Primus and Unicron, and anything the Chozo had recorded down, is hardly a myth. They had no doubt expected him to return. But time has passed, our technology is great, we can remove him without the need of a great hero like Primus."

Maleficent nodded in agreement. "Of course. Unicron will not expect the power we have gained from all this time. I suggest to all of you, that we prepare a military force at once, to intercept Unicron before he proceeds any further into our territory. The quicker we remove him, the less panic and loss of profits he'll create for us."

An old man, bald, and withered looking, with blue eyes looked at her. "Oh? And do you think Keaton will accept? His obsessed with those heroes that have evaded your laws Black doom, the ones that Yuan Shao hides with. He won't bother with Unicron. I doubt he even believes in the days of Primus!"

Maleficent leaned back in her chair, with a sly smile. "There is a way to make him…promise him the seat of power."

There was silence.

The someone spoke up. "You what!? We can't give someone like him the seat of power! He'll have us removed!" this came from one of the ladies of the humans. The other humans nodded.

Maleficent chuckled. "Oh? But if we promise him the seat, he'll no doubt send himself and a grand force to remove Unicron. And if he succeeds, we can always send the blame back at those he hates most, say that they had forged the message. Can we not?"

There was silence. Mickey shook his head. "We can't blame them. We should keep to our word if Keaton succeeds. He might even help restore complete order afterall."

Aldaris agreed with him. "Yes, we need an emperor instead of trying to control things ourselves. The people need someone to look up to. As much as he is arrogant, he is a known figure to the public."

Dante looked at him. "Oh? And you want him to hunt us down one by one for denying him the seat for so long and stripping us of power, taking complete control of all your territories? No, I'm sorry Aldaris, but this time I think we'll go with Maleficent. We'll promise him the seat to divert his attention away from the meager group and go after Unicron and this Borg threat, and more so, cement our relations with our former enemies the United Federation of Planets and the Galactic Empire. All in favour?"

Everyone but Mickey and Aldaris raised their hands. Mickey knew they would do this, but he had no means of stopping them, and of course, he knew that there would never be a 'those against' vote. If Dante and the humans felt it was the best course of action, that's it.

Dante Smiled. "Excellent. Now, we should move on to less urgent news. Once again our profits in trading have dropped lately…"

* * *

Roll was on her way to see her OP Maylu, and there friends the Net Navi Gutsman and Dex, the OP of Gutsman, when down the corridor she was heading, she saw Chad storming up and about to go by. He looked pissed, extremely.

"Chad?" she said. He seemed to ignore her, until she grabbed onto his shoulder. "Chad! Are you okay?"

He looked at her, and he wanted to tell her to leave him alone, but just by looking at her, he didn't have the heart to. "Roll, it's just Darkmega okay? He comes in here acting like nothings happened! I mean, how can those old geezers do this!? I'm certainly not going to forget the fact he drove everyone here off Earth and made you lot go into hiding! I can't be his watcher if I want to slice his guts open every 5 seconds!"

She understood him. She feels the same about Darkmega right now, but she knows that the docs do a lot of things for reasons they can't really think of, and some of the times the reasons are good ones. "Chad, I understand completely, but you have to push the anger aside with him. The docs saved him for a reason."

"Roll, what good reason could there-"

"I don't know Chad. I don't. we just need to have a little faith in them. Look, lets go outside and get some fresh air, it'll do you some good I think. Please?"

Chad agreed to it. Some fresh air would do him good right now. As much as this underground base was vented, it was still feeling dusty and cramped. They left together, heading to the clearing nearby the base.

They soon sat down together, looking up at the twin Blue moons of Zebes. Chad, the second he sat down, cursed himself for forgetting the rain earlier. As much as it had stopped raining, the ground was soaked, and now were his trousers. Roll was lucky, the Navi suit fabric was waterproof. All she had to put up with was the fact it was cold on her rear.

Soon, Roll got Chad talking about his time spent with Darkmega…and it seemed each and every minute they spent together, Chad was getting closer and closer to going apeshit on him. Darkmega had annoyed him on every moment, at every turn. Chad was one to shrug things like that off, but Darkmega was slowly drilling into him, and soon he explained about the bar incident.

"-I just snapped. He made me snap at him. The urge to hit him was too much Roll. He had gotten on my nerves enough. I needed to take action."

Roll was fixed on the moons, as was Chad. "Do you feel bad about doing it now?"

"Honestly? No, no I don't. it felt right. And he didn't fight back, he just stayed down while I left."

"Maybe he knows he went too far with you Chad. Maybe his coming to a point of understanding that there are limits."

Chad chuckled coldly. "Hell no Roll, his just waiting for the right time to backstab us. that's all, you wait and see."

Roll frowned at him a little. "Now don't be like that Chad, think positive, alright? What you need is someone to get your mind off Darkmega…like a girl, friend, if you know what I mean?"

Chad looked at her, with one eyebrow raised. "Oh? And who would go out with me? I mean I ain't really boyfriend material ya know."

Roll looked right at him, looking into his eyes. Her heart seemed to jump, something in her shouted to her to say 'I would go out with you.', but her mind was suppressing the urge, it wasn't right, it just wouldn't work, afterall, there was one other girl that wanted Chad.

Roll had a choice in her mind, attempt with Chad, lose Anna, tell Chad about Anna, keep both as friends.

In a panicked mind, the choice was clear. "Wellll…I know Anna has been thinking about you in that way Chad."

Chad chuckled, feeling a little sheepish now. "…Ah right, Anna. Yeah…She kinda does dig me, doesn't she? But, how can I be entirely sure Roll? I mean, what if she's just wants a really close friend?"

Roll smiled. "Well maybe the only way you're gonna find it is by asking her out. I mean, afterall, if she likes you, she'll agree to it. If she doesn't…well you can always try to win her heart over."

Chad shook his head. "No no no no no. I can't ask her out. She'll never talk to me again Roll, I mean-"

"Just…try, okay? It'll do you a world of good."

The mobian boy sighed in defeat. "Alright Roll, I'll try…"

Roll nodded in approval. Deep down she knew she blew a chance, but she'd rather have her friends, then possibly lose both. Chad just felt worried about the whole thing right now.

"Listen, let's go back inside Roll, I need to get some rest and change my clothing now."

* * *

It was around 2 in the morning, when Dr Light was seen in the lab, sitting at the computer, drinking a cup of black coffee, checking through the files.

Everything was normal as always, until he heard the radar beeping, meaning something had come in range of the planet. He checked, and the relaxed feeling had gone…into full blown panic.

The radar had identified the a GF warship coming into orbit…the ship being Keaton's flagship.

Dr Light quickly called Dr Wily on the com-link, and within several minutes, Wily came in. "What do you mean by it's very bad news Thomas?"

"Look!" Dr Light quickly pointed out what their radar was picking up.

"…Aw hell, I knew that git wouldn't stay away from us! What does he want now?" Dr Wily grumbled in annoyance.

"Whatever it is, it'll be worse if he finds Darkmega here!"

Dr Wily looked at him, confused…then it dawned on him. "Oh…oh shit! We need to get him hidden away!"

Dr Light nodded. "Agreed, as quickly as possible. Call Chad, get him to take Darkmega into Zebes itself."

Dr Wily got on his com-link and tried to call Chad…

To the unfortunate doc, Chad was sound asleep in his bed, with his com-link tossed on the floor, with a pile of clothes on top of it. Wily could just be heard shouting his head off, demanding the idiot to get up right now and answer the damn com-link. Chad simply mumbled "In a few minutes dad…", rolled over, and stayed asleep.

Dr Wily turned off the com-link and cursed. "Thomas, we got a problem. The brat doesn't seem to either hear his com-link, or his being an asshole."

Dr Light quickly thought of a new plan, stroking his beard a little. "Albert, perhaps we should contact Medi instead. Get her to go with Ridley and Darkmega. Ridley knows the outline of the planet more then any of us. Tell them to take Rock and Blues with them. They'll protect them from anything that might attack in the planet."

Dr Wily agreed, and quickly called up Medi.

Darkmega was in his room at that time. He hadn't slept, instead, he was sitting at the edge of his bed, thinking back over and over to the bar, that punch he felt…he couldn't understand the fact he felt fear. He mumbled to himself. "I'm a dark being, yet…I felt terror. This can't be right though, I shouldn't be able to feel it…"

"That….that old man…when he came, I felt it then as well…did he do something to me? Did he effect what I am? Did he-"

Darkmega then heard someone knocking on his door rather hard. He sighed in annoyance and walked over, opening it, to find Medi standing there. She quickly said. "Darkmega we need to leave! Right now!"

"Right now? Where to? Why? Is there an angry mob wanting me out or something?"

Medi grabbed his hand and pretty much forced him to follow her out of his room, into the corridor. "It's the Galactic Federation Darkmega! They've come to the planet! We need to hide you right now! Come on! We're going to Ridley's bar!"

She soon started to run, making him follow suit, as she refused to let go of his hand. "Wow. I'm already being hunted down by them? That's a shock to be honest. I thought those guys were meant to be slow on the uptake?"

Medi looked at him as they went. "It's just a precaution! If you were found with the rest of us then the GF would have a pretty damn good reason to arrest us all after what happened with you!"

Darkmega thought about this for a moment, as they got close to Ridley's bar, and nodded. "Ah, good point. I guess they would arrest you lot for hiding me."

As soon as they both entered the Bar, They came face to face with Blues. Behind him, waiting near the Bar itself, was Ridley, Rock, Zhang Liao, Samus, and Sun Jian.

Blues and Rock were Robots created by Dr Light a many years ago to counter Wily's threats which didn't include the net. The anti weapons to the Robot Masters, which had worked greatly. Now they were members of the base, working for their father.

Blues spoke, the second Medi and Darkmega got in. "Alright, we're all to follow Ridley to the back passage to the Planet Zebes, once we reach the place he called Brinstar, we'll discuss an effective area to hide in, incase the Galactic Federation attempt to search around for us."

Ridley nodded. "It's a good area to get yourself lost in Darkmega, perfect for what we need right now. Everyone, this way! Bars closed!" He left the bar, along with Medi, Blues, Rock, Sun Jian and Darkmega. Leaving Zhang Liao looking at Samus, who didn't move for a moment.

"…Samus, we must go."

"But…all…this booze, unguarded…"

Zhang Liao sighed, and grabbed her arm, trying to move her. She didn't move an inch for a moment, but then gave in and went with him. "That poor booze, left to get dirty, disused…"

They were all going to the 35th corridor, the furthest one in the base, which had several rooms for storage, and the door at the back led into a rocky tunnel, which in turn, leads to Brinstar. This was Ridley's way in and out of the base to collect his ingredients. As they entered the tunnel, once they all got trough the door, Blues made sure the door was shut, then got on his com-link. "Yo, Dad. We're through, lockdown the door."

There was a clicking sound, then, silence…before Dr Light spoke on Blues com-link. "Done. Good luck down there. Dr Light out."

Sun Jian turned to Ridley, as Medi breathed a sigh of relief. "So, what kind of creatures could there be on this planet that's dangerous to us? Especially in this Brinstar?"

Ridley was surprised. "You've never bothered to come down here?"

"Ridley, Dad did tell everyone to avoid the inner sections of the planet." Rock said.

Samus smiled. "Oh his just being too worried Rock. Ridley, take the lead, I'll tell'em what's what." As Ridley begun to lead them down the dark, rocky tunnel to the light at the end of it. "Well, where shall we start…We got Beetoms, Boyons, Cacatacs, Geegas, Ki-Hunters, Mellows, Metarees, Reos, Rippers, Sidehoppers, Wavers, Zoomers and Yapping Maws…which one to you wanna hear about first?"

For Sun Jian, suddenly the idea of coming down with these people didn't sound such a good one afterall…

* * *

On the Planets surface, at least 15 transport ships landed. Coming out of 12 of them were GF troopers, from the others, were Keaton, Master Chief, Grievous, and a few extra hands they brought along to assist them. They were Vile, from Earth XI, Flame Stag from the same planet, Shadow, Rouge and Omega E123 from Mobius, the Net Navi Colonel from Earth X and Solid Snake from Earth VIII.

Vile, Flame Stag, Colonel and Solid Snake were all members of Unit 666 at one point. The first two, once the Unit was disbanded, joined up with a robot called Sigma in a Earth XI rebellion several years ago, but later returned to service once Grievous came back. To remind themselves and others of who they are, they all wear a golden dog tag around their necks, all with their names, and their old units number.

Colonel is a Net Navi that served the now deceased Colonel Barrel. They both served in the Unit back when it was founded, and had proved to be some of the finest men in it. Once it had died off, he stayed within the Galactic Federation, rising in ranks as the time goes by.

Solid Snake was a latecomer to the Unit, although he proved to be indispensable with his sneaking abilities. He had left the GF for a time, choosing to relax and sit back in life, but once war had begun against Darkmega two years ago, he was back in the force, ready as ever.

Shadow, Rouge and Omega E123 were residents of the Planet Mobius. Their known as 'Team Dark', dedicated to help out, so long as there was treasure included… although that was before they were hired by the GF for prolonged reasons, by Robotnik, and for small pay too. Shadow is known as the ultimate lifeform to many. Fast, agile, and effective in combat, his the tracker of the three.

Omega E123 is the guns of them. A machine created by Robotnik, he once wanted nothing more then revenge against his creator. But as time moved on, so did his objectives, and now he simply adds the other two in whatever they want, as Robotnik is too risky of a target to attack nowadays due to his rank in the GF.

Rouge the Bat is the leader. She gets them the jobs, and sorts out the reward between them. She hates working for Keaton due to his personal hatred towards mobians, believing they are a 'furry menace, no matter what.'. she has a profound addiction to diamonds, jewels and…anything shiny really.

Keaton looked at Master Chief, as his men were getting themselves organised into squads. "You'll command the troops to explore the entire base as soon as I have made contact with Dr Thomas Light and Dr Albert Wily. Look for Dark Megaman!"

Master Chief nodded, heading over to where the troops were, as Grievous went over to the main door, looking at it carefully. He then noticed a computer screen with a red button near it. He stepped over and pressed the button.

A female voice said "Password please. Please complete the following: the darkness is hated by all…."

Grievous thought about this for a moment. He looked at the screen…

And thought about it….

And thought about it….

And then pulled out his lightsaber and slashed the computer screen, along with the button.

The door opened. Keaton walked over with Shadow, Rouge, Omega, Vile, Flame Stag, Colonel and Snake, commenting "Well Grievous, I see you still know how to get things done in the simple manner. Now lets find these heroes and deal with this 'little' problem.."

* * *

Dr Light was already in the main room, waiting, as was Dr Wily and his son Dr Regal. Dr Yuichiro had just come out of the labs. "Father! They've got through the main door!"

Dr Wily looked impressed. "They actually got through the question? Those idiots? I'm surprised."

Dr Yuichiro shook his head. "Grievous just used his lightsaber to destroy the control panel!"

"Oh…" Dr Wily shrugged. "That's nothing different then. Shame, I was hoping they were starting to get some intelligence." He turned to Dr Light. "So Thomas, got any ideas on the excuses we can pull incase it IS Darkmega his after?"

Dr Light looked like he was thinking before responding "I'm sorry Keaton, but your Dark Soul is in another hero base?"

"Eh, good enough I suppose."

They went silent, as Keaton stepped in, with his men behind him. The four doctors lined up, as Keaton calmly approached them. Grievous and the others stood back, while Master Chief entered, with the troops. "Ah, Thomas Light, Albert Wily, and the kids…it's been awhile since we've spoken in person, hasn't it?"

Dr Wily gave him a warning glare. "And what's with the troops Keaton? Don't tell me you've chosen to backstab the High Ministers for personal revenge on us?"

"Oh nothing of the sort Albert. I'm…after something which is highly dangerous to the Galactic Federation. And it's something YOU have."

Dr Light looked surprised. "Oh? We do? Well I'm sure you removed the crazed cyborgs already…"

Keaton chuckled. "Oh no Thomas, nothing so tedious…see, your son has informed me about a certain creature in your hands again, after all that it did to the Galactic Federation and yourselves, I'm surprised you've even got it."

Dr Light quickly looked at his son in disbelief. "You…you told him about…?"

Yuichiro nodded grimly.

Keaton motioned to his troops. "Now, my men will be doing a search, room by room, for this Dark Megaman character. I expect all of your people to behave in a cooperate manner for this visit. I suggest you call them about the search and inform them that if we encounter ANY, resistance…we will kill."

Dr Light nodded in understanding, and looked at his son, in anger, before getting on his com-link, to inform everyone about what was going on. All he could hope, is that those heading into Zebes hide Darkmega well…

* * *

The wild jungle floors of Brinstar…it was warm, stuffy, filled with sweet scents of flowers and grass, a lot of the said flowers aiming to lure creatures that reside in this place to their deaths.

The strange thing with Brinstar is that all of it's jungle life is mostly underground, with few patches on the planet surface. It's believed that all the plant life requires no sunlight to survive, adapted with millions of years of evolution, and no doubt, some help from the space pirates, and several species that reside here are food to them, as Ridley pointed out to the others as they journeyed deeper into the underground world.

They had encountered a few of the wild life, but Ridley and Samus had disposed of them before they even got close. They has become the head of the group, making sure everyone else was okay. For them, this was a turn of situations. Normally Samus would be hunting around for Ridley, not standing side by side with him…but of course, times have come and gone, things are different.

They had got quite far already, according to the space dragon and the chozo armour wearing woman, to the others, especially Medi, it was exhausting, with the amount of jumping around they had to do. Brinstar was filled with platforms made by both space pirates and natural elements. Some jumps they just couldn't do without Ridley to help them.

They had all just reached another platform, with a Sidehopper noticing them, while standing on it, a large yellow like insect with two legs, with a head attracted in-between. A growl from Ridley was enough to make it jump off to a different platform instead of facing him.

Medi was panting from that jump. "Guys, guys, I need to stop. I can't go on without having some rest. I used the area steal chip several times previously…"

Blues looked at her, then the others. Sun Jian and Zhang Liao did look tired out, while Darkmega seemed just about okay. He turned to Ridley and Samus. "Hold up. We'll have a break."

They all sat down eventually, with Ridley sitting at one end of the platform, and Samus at the other, watching for any hostile creatures, while the rest get a breather.

Darkmega was watching Medi, as she sat near him, looking around at Brinstar, before turning her attention to him. "Hey, are you okay Darkmega? How are you holding up?"

Darkmega smiled. "I'm good. What about you? You seemed especially tired out. Not used to jumping around?"

Medi shook her head. "I haven't been moving around much lately. Haven't had time off to go to the hologram room to keep my energy up. Been slacking off lately you could say."

Darkmega looked a little surprised, looking at her body. "You shouldn't do that, might ruin that great figure you got."

Medi smiled at him for that comment. "Aww, that's so sweet of you."

Blues went over to Ridley, sitting near him. "So, what's the plan Rid? How far are we gonna go?"

Ridley was still watching around as he replied. " Places where the GF would have trouble like Norfair and Maridia are out of the question for several of us. We have the crashed ship site of the ancient Chozo on the surface. It's haunted, but I doubt the Federation would look into it. Brinstar depths would be a nice bet too. I doubt they would go that far."

"…Brinstar depths it is then. We don't need anyone spooked right now, so that's the best spot. We'll give them 20 minutes recovery time, then we'll move on, alright?"

"Alright." Ridley agreed.

* * *

It hadn't taken long for Keaton's men to search the base, and when they came back, their report of a lack of Darkmega seemed to annoy Keaton, as he looked at the doctors, in a way that said 'but his here, and your hiding him from me.'.

Keaton straightened himself up, looking at Dr Light and Wily. "So, where is he then?"

Dr Light sternly said "Erased Keaton. Gone. Nothing left."

Keaton tuts. "Now now Thomas, lets not lie to each other. I can't see you performing such an act on a specimen like him…no, I think you've got him on the run on this planet, no doubt with a few of your friends here. That's okay though…"

He turned towards Rouge, Shadow and Omega, and motioned them over to him. "You three will go into the planets underground section called Brinstar and begin the search."

They stayed silent for a moment, before Rouge spoke up. "And what's the pay?"

"The pay is that I don't chuck you punks into the slammer and give you a death penalty. Is that understood Mobian?"

Rouge glared at him. She never liked this asshole, ever. His feelings towards her species is well known. "Yes, sir…" she waves her hand at Shadow and Omega, and leaves down one of the corridors, with them in tow.

Keaton smiled, then turned his attention to Grievous. "General, get yourself, Master Chief, Snake and Colonel, with the men to round up everyone here. They are all under arrest for possible dangerous activity to the peace and prosperity of the Galactic Federation."

Dr Wily quickly, in fury, reacted to this. "What!? You can't arrest us Keaton! You have nothing to prove we've done anything wrong!"

Keaton turned back to the doctors, and looked at Dr Wily with a grin on his face, a grin that showed he felt like he had a victory. "Oh, I think the letter from Thomas' son is a good start Albert, once we get Dark Megaman, that'll be all the evidence I need against you outside heroes."

"WHY YOU-" Dr Wily was about to move towards Keaton, with his walking stick to smack him around, but Dr Light held his shoulder to stop him.

"Albert, there's no point. We just have to comply, that's all…." He looked at Keaton. "Alright Keaton, we will come quietly. Let me inform everyone about this."

The Grand Commander accepted it. "Fine Thomas, but hurry it up, I want to get out of this dump soon."

While Dr Light was contacting everyone, Keaton walked over to Flame Stag and Vile, who were standing at attention, awaiting orders. He said to them in a quiet tone. "I want you both to follow those mobians and that robot. Make sure they don't try to disobey. I trust them as much as I trust a Zerg."

Vile nodded and saluted. "Understood Grand Commander."

* * *

The group inside Brinstar noticed the place begun to change as they were getting deeper. They had entered a sector that seemed to be all autumn like, with all of it's planets dropping pink to peach colour dust particles, covering the ground. Ridley said the dust is known to cause irritation in the lungs, but it's a place they have to get though.

Zhang Liao could feel his throat already suffering. "How, how far does this go on for Ridley?"

Ridley looked at him, after they had got through one of the many barrier doors placed by the pirates, and checking for any dangerous wild life. "It's not too big this area. A lot of platforms if I recall soon, but after we'll be home free to Brinstar depths."

Medi sighed "More platforms? What is up with this underground maze?"

"Oh, you can blame us for making it hellish. We wanted to try and deny as many visitors as we could back in the days of our operations before Samus came along. You'll love Brinstar depths, plenty of big drops and climbing down to do, along with platforms galore."

Sun Jian couldn't believe it. "So, your saying is, it's only going to get worse from here?"

Ridley nodded. "Oh yeah, hence why we know the GF won't bother going that far. Because no normal people would go that far."

Their journey, with some difficultly with breathing for some, finally led them to a jungle part, which leads to the entrance to the depths. They once again had a stop to take a breather, and let the people who suffered from the particles recover.

Ridley walked over to Zhang Liao, who really was coughing away after breathing in so much of the dust, and bent down near him, reassuring him. "Relax guy, the dust will get out of your system eventually."

Blues sighed. "Looks like this will be a long break before we head out again…Bro, keep an eye out with Samus."

Rock, who was standing next to his brother. Nodded. "Right!"

Darkmega was seen with Medi, and was actually comforting her while she was coughing as bad as Liao. Darkmega had irritated lungs, but he only coughed now and then. Sun Jian was being monitored by Ridley, as well as Zhang Liao was, as he couldn't take deep breaths without going into a fit of coughs.

Darkmega didn't know what was making him act so nice towards the nurse Navi, sure he plans to try and get her to help him, but he doesn't need to do this…but something told him otherwise, and for now, he decided to go with the otherwise. "Hey Medi, it's okay, you'll be fine soon enough. We got through the worst of it now."

Medi could only smile at him a little, before trying again to cough up, as she felt, a lungful of dirt almost.

It was just as Rock had walked over to Samus, Samus had heard something, on a platform nearby, and quickly turned around, pointing her arm cannon to a platform several feet above them.

…there was silence, as Rock looked at her in shock. "…uhh, Samus, is there anything wrong?"

Samus waited for a moment, before lowering her arm cannon. "That platform leads to a door which connects to the upper part of Brinstar…a pathway filled with flesh eating plants…"

Rock raised an eyebrow. "…So?"

Samus looked at him. "I was sure I heard a noise come from it, meaning someone might've followed us."

Rock smiled. "Well, it might be just a little critter Samus, maybe a Zoomer or something…look, don't worry about it. If it was the GF, they would've popped up and ordered us to surrender and come quietly."

Then, a new voice, one certainly not in the group, said. "That's what we was planning to do actually."

Quickly Samus pointed her arm cannon again, as appearing on the edge of the platform above, was Rouge, E123 Omega and Shadow, who was holding one of the legendary Chaos Emeralds, the red coloured one, and the one who said that.

Rock quickly stood next to Samus, aiming his arm cannon, and Ridley soon moved towards them, looking at the intruders. Blues stood where he was, watching the intruders but also keeping an eye on the others who weren't in the best condition to do anything right now.

Rouge smiled, as she noticed Darkmega. "Well well well, I see you guys have gotten quite far with the being Keaton wants. Too bad you'll have to hand him over to us now."

Samus shakes her head a little. "Sorry, but his staying with us. You guys can either fuck off, or prepare to get killed."

Omega looks down at them all. "Comply with our demand. Or be destroyed." He changes one of his hands into a minigun, pointing down at Samus, Rock and Ridley.

Shadow was eyeing up Darkmega, and noticed him, along with three others were in a weakened state right now. He smirked. "We don't even need to deal with them, I'll grab the Navi myself before they even know what happened!"

He raised up the Chaos Emerald shouted "Chaos….CONTROL!" he vanished in a flash of light, and appeared before Samus, Ridley and Rock, before vanishing again, and appearing before Darkmega. As he was about to grab Darkmega though, he heard a roar, and before he knew it, Ridley had quickly reacted to his move, by flying at him, and grabbing him off the ground, JUST avoiding Darkmega and Medi, and making the hedgehog drop the emerald, as he flew over the edge of the platform, and threw Shadow off, sending him down several dozen meters, before he landed on another platform, scaring off a few Skree bats.

Shadow had landed on his feet, able to position himself in midair before landing…and quickly jumped back, as Ridley slammed into the ground with his talons and feet right next to him, growling.

Rouge sighed. "Oh dear, looks like that didn't work out…it's down to you and me then Omega."

"Understood. We will begin termination."

Rock had begun charging his arm cannon. "We can't let them get to Darkmega Samus!"

Samus begun to charge up her arm cannon as well. "Oh this is what I need! A little action on good ol' Zebes!"

Blues walked over to the other two. As he walked by Darkmega, he said "Keep an eye on those three." hinting at Sun Jian, Medi and Zhang Liao. When he arrived with Samus and Rock, he also charged up his arm cannon. "Alright, lets get this over with. Quicker the better."

Shadow, meanwhile, was circling Ridley, walking, as Ridley stood on his feet, slowly following Shadows movement. "You're a space dragon aren't you? Once a head of the space pirates if I'm correct.."

Ridley stretched out his wings. "That's right, a good while ago, but I'm still as dangerous as I was back then, and you've taken on the wrong ex-pirate, mobian."

Shadow closed his eyes for a moment, tutting, before looking at Ridley again, walking a little faster now. "Mobian? I'm more then that dragon, I am the ultimate lifeform, Shadow the Hedgehog, and you've taken on the wrong being."

Ridley prepared his claws now, clenching them a little, before focusing on Shadow, bending down to all fours, his yellow eyes locked on his target. "You certainly won't be a good ultimate lifeform once I rip that spiky head off!"

Shadow turned towards Ridley, stopped his walk. " And I'll make you regret taking me on!"

He ran that Ridley, with his jet shoes flaring, as Ridley dived towards him, claws outstretched, mouth wide, letting out a scream of rage…


	11. Escape from Brinstar

Shadow was finding this one battle to be rather interesting.

He once again dodged the dragons tail, as it attempted to swipe him off the side. Jumping over it was the easiest thing to do, then, he curled up in the air, spinning, and performed the homing attack, smacking Ridley right in the face, stunning the dragon momentarily.

But only momentarily, before Shadow found himself inches from the maw of the creature, as it attempted to bite at him. He landed on the ground, and decided to do a small Chaos Control teleport from one side of the platform to the other, behind Ridley, but as he reappeared, Ridley had already turned around, and unleashed several fireballs, hitting Shadow, knocking him back, nearly over the ledge.

'This space dragon had keen eyes and hearing alright,' Shadow thought to himself, as he managed to stop himself falling off, and jumped up into the air again, firing a small Chaos Beam at Ridley, who simply covered himself with his wings, letting them receive the blow of the beam. ' No wonder he was ranked as one of the heads of the space pirates.'

As Ridley moved his wings back, he was met with another blow to the face by the homing attack, it was painful and annoying. Shadow had jumped away before Ridley could react, and fired yet another Chaos Beam, this time hitting Ridley right in the chest, making him roar out in pain and stumble back.

Shadow didn't let up, he took to the air once again, aiming to do the homing attack. As he spun towards Ridley, Ridley opened one of his claws in Shadow direction, and tried to catch him. First time it failed, as Shadow simply rebounded off the claw, and tried again on the homing attack, still in the air, failed again, and Shadow tried again, aiming for Ridley's head…and this time, Ridley caught him. All three attempts stung like a bitch, but he had Shadow by his legs.

He wasted no time, in swinging Shadow up, then slamming him down into the ground. Shadow grunted, feeling the hard ground connect to him roughly, before he was sent back up, and smacking down again. Then Ridley threw him up into the air, as Shadow was a little dazed by the attack, and as he flew back down, Ridley swung his tail, smacking Shadow right in the side, sending him off the edge of the platform.

Shadow found himself in pain, and falling…quickly getting his head together, he used Chaos Control, disappearing in a flash, and reappearing in front of Ridley, swinging his leg at the dragons face, knocking the space dragons head sidewards, before landing on the ground for a moment, and using the Chaos Beam, shooting at the dragons torso, making Ridley stumble again, this time falling to the floor for a moment, before getting on all fours, and roaring out at Shadow.

Shadow was panting. He cursed the fact Ridley was able to make him drop the Chaos Emerald. It allowed him unlimited Chaos energy to use at will, and right now he was limited, to the point, at this moment, he had used up all of his reserves now. If this battle is to continue, it's gotta be back to basics, and the bad news was Ridley didn't even seem exhausted at all.

Ridley noticed Shadow weakening, and said "What's wrong ultimate lifeform? Running out of juice?!"

Shadow soon forced himself to stop taking such large intakes of air, and tried to act cool and calm, yet his speech showed he was tired. "Humph, please, I'm just, getting warmed up. Soon you'll go down, and I'll, be the victor!" he ran at Ridley once again.

Missiles swarmed at Omega E123, colliding with him, creating several explosions and smoke covering him, but soon after, a rain of energy bullets flew from his arms, raining down on the launcher of those missiles, Samus Aran, who was using the screw attack to cover herself in energy to deflect the shots, while jumping up towards the platform Omega was on.

Rock had received a kick right in the face from Rouge, as she dived down towards him, just avoiding his charged up energy shot, which had barely passed her. Once she landed, she laid herself flat on the floor, as another energy charged shot flew by her, made by Blues.

She jumped back up off the floor, just as Rock had recovered, and kicked him several times in the gut, before kicking him again in the face, making him fall back on the floor, groaning in pain. She turn towards Blues, as he fired several small energy shots at her, which she jumped in the air to dodge, and flew at him, ready to kick him, only for her foot to meet his fist, deflecting her attack. The moment she landed and turned to him, he gave her an uppercut, knocking her away.

That hurt, a lot. A metal fist connecting to her jaw was extremely a painful experience, but she tried to ignore the pain, as she landed on the ground, on her feet. Blues quickly charged up an energy shot, and fired it. As the blue energy ball flew at her, she quickly moved to the side of it, and then flew towards Blues, and performed a dropkick on his torso, sending him flying back thanks to her speed on impact, but as she landed on her feet once again, another energy shot smacked into her, sending her sprawling to the floor, hitting it roughly on her back, the shot had come from Rock, as he had got himself back up.

Omega was seen smashing into the ground on the upper platform, after Samus had deployed a power bomb to knock him back. He forced himself back up, and locked onto Samus, as she unleashed more missiles at him, exploding on him, but doing little to no damage to his armour plating. He changed one of his hands into the laser cannon mode, pointed it and fired at Samus a large purple laser. The shot flew out of the smoke, catching Samus by surprise and hitting her dead on, knocking her off the platform.

As she was heading back down to the platform where the fight between Rouge, Blues and Rock was going on, she quickly fired her grapple beam, which connected to the edge of the platform she was fighting on, and retracted it, sending her back up, and being able to grab on the ledge. She looked up, and saw Omega standing there, with one of his arms pointing at her, formed into the minigun, and fired.

The hail of bullets rapidly hit Samus, and her energy shield according to her visor readings, was quickly depleting. She activated the super missiles, and pointing her arm cannon at Omega. "Suck it bitch!" and fired. The direct close range of this not only made Samus get blasted away off the ledge, hitting the ground below, but it indented, and damaged the torso armour of Omega E123, making him move back.

Shadow had dodged a claw swipe, and curled up, before jumping up at the dragon, smacking Ridley in the head, jumped away, avoided the tail, and homed in again, hitting Ridley once more. Shadow was getting in a few blows in his desperation, but he was sure they weren't really doing anything but annoying Ridley.

He performed the homing attack , this time targeting Ridley's chest, and just kept rapidly hitting it, every moment he hit and rebounded, he would do it again, without giving Ridley a chance to strike at him. This seemed to work, as it was pushing Ridley back, and his attempts to swipe at Shadow were failing.

That was, until he opened his mouth and unleashed a wave of fire, blasting Shadow away, who had used the very last once of Chaos energy to make a Chaos barrier, stopping most of the flames for but a few seconds, burning a few hairs on the mobian. Shadow hit the ground, and quickly tried to force himself up…only to find Ridley had already recovered, and was towering over him, and before he could act, he felt both claws of the space dragon around him, holding him in place, and lifting him up off the ground.

He was caught, and if Ridley gave him another dose of fire this close…that would be it. Ridley opened his mouth, and Shadow quickly looked around, and tried to squirm his way out of the tight grip, but to no avail. "uggg, ngghhh!" he couldn't move, and looked at the Dragon, expecting the blast of fire…but nothing came, as Ridley shut his mouth, looking at Shadow…..there was silence for a moment between them. Above, they heard the sounds of fighting, but between them, nothing….

…Ridley spoke. "I take it your finished now?"

Shadow didn't want to admit defeat, not like this. But with no way out, his Chaos energy at nothing, exhaustion taken him, there was little choice. "…Yes, yes I am. Finish me then."

Ridley seemed to think about this, and soon lowered his claws to the ground, and released Shadow from his grip, then taking a few steps back. "I don't see the point of taking down an enemy that knows they are defeated. Admitting it is a bold thing, especially for something that claims to be the ultimate lifeform."

Shadow was surprised. Ridley was letting him off? "Tch, but I could easily come back and fight you again Ridley."

"You could, and if you admit defeat again, I'll let you go again. Afterall, I like a good fight once in a while, and I haven't got into one for a very long time. Thanks for that."

Shadow found himself slightly uneasy with this, but Ridley just seemed to shrug it off. "Now Shadow, I take it you want to get back all the way up there to your pals hmm? Wanna lift?"

Shadow now was more uneasy. "…You're, unusual…but as I cannot teleport myself up, and with it being so far…" He slowly walked over to Ridley. "…Very well. I will accept your gesture of…good will."

Ridley flapped his wings, and flew over Shadow, grabbing him with one of his feet, and soon took off, flying back up to the platform where the fighting still goes on.

Rouge was seen standing there, looking battered, facing off with Blues and Rock still. Next to her was Omega, his miniguns locked onto both of the Light robots. Samus was seen near the robots, on one knee, panting. After the Super missile, Omega had moved faster the Samus, and came down to her level, and literally punished her with Laser fire, blasting her over and over, until Blues got in-between and fired a few charged shots to divert Omegas attention. Samus's visor was warning her the energy barrier was fully depleted, and now her Chozo armour was vulnerable to direct assault.

That's when Ridley appeared, flying over them all, showing that, in one of his feet claws, with Shadow, looking tired out, Omega pointed his guns at Ridley, but Rouge moved over to him, and put her hands on one of his arms, shaking her head quickly, noticing Shadow.

Ridley slowly flew down near the ground, close to Omega and Rouge, and dropped Shadow, letting him land neatly on his feet. Ridley then landed over where Blues, Samus and Rock were, turning his attention to Rouge and Omega. "Now then, where was you lot? Hope you don't mind if I join back in."

Rouge walked over to Shadow, worried. "Shadow? Are you okay? What happened?"

Shadow looked at her, and nodded to show he was fine. "That dragon spared me. I failed to beat him.."

Rouge put a hand gently on his shoulder. "It's fine, Shadow, I'm just glad your not dead.." She noticed he was in a sorry state..infact, all three of them were pretty much, and their targets looked like they could go for more, and with Ridley in play as well…She had to conclude that maybe this was it for now. Their mission is a failure.

"Well, I suppose we'll have to throw in the towel to you heroes. We're not getting paid for this one, so there not much point fighting to the death."

Blues and Rock lowered their arm cannons. Rock had gone over to Samus, checking on her, while Blues watched Shadow, Rouge and Omega with Ridley, who had walked over to where Shadow dropped the Red Chaos emerald, walked back with it, and threw it over to Shadow, who just caught it. "Good move. Hopefully we won't bump into each other anytime soon."

Ridley then thought about what Rouge had said. "Hold on, you're not working in the Galactic Federation? You're a free range group?"

Rouge nodded. "Yeah, so?"

Ridley looked at Blues, who seemed baffled at where he was going with this. "Well…" He looked at them. "How about we hire you guys?"

Blues quickly glared at Ridley "You want to fucking hire the very people that wanted to take Darkmega and possibly kill us?!"

Rouge chuckled. "Oh? And what could you possibly tempt us with? Money isn't the thing we're after. It's something the precious GF don't want to part with…diamonds, crystals, jewels. Real items that I, I mean, we, can keep."

Ridley looked like he was deep in thought. "Ah, I see…."

Rouge waited for a moment, but when Ridley didn't say anything else. "Well then I suppose that means you have nothing on offer, come on Shadow, Omega, we're-"

"I know of quite a few rare gems on this very Planet."

Rouge stopped dead in her tracks, and looked at Ridley. "…You…do?"

Ridley nodded. "Oh yes. In the lower sections of Zebes, in Norfair, there's the famous Crazian Diamonds, I take it you HAVE heard of them? Their worth is in the millions to the GF system. We pirates never bothered to collect them as we couldn't sell in this empire back in the days we had control here."

Rouge felt a tingle down her spine, the possible fact of having jewels again after so long, especially rare ones. She never heard of them but still, this feeling to see them, to HAVE them… "Well of COURSE I've heard of them. I'm a famous treasure hunter afterall. But if I recall, Norfair is impossible to survive in."

"Well yes, for you. But not for me. I can, once all this trouble with the GF is over, go down there and personally fetch you…oh, eight to ten of them? Large ones too. I know of a few areas which house them."

Rouge was taken. Hook, line and fricken' sinker. "Well…I can't pass up such a great reward for simply sticking around…alright then Mr Ridley. You have a deal. We help you guys until this GF issue is fully over and done with, then you get me TEN of those lovely jewels. Alright?"

Ridley nodded. "Alright."

* * *

The starship Enterprise was floating there, deep in space, with it several other starships. Including three Nebula Class vessels, two other Galaxy Class, and three Excelsior Class ships. They were awaiting at the border between the two sides, waiting for the confirm that a 'emergency' truce has been made. According to Starfleet, the High Ministers of the Galactic Federation have allowed it, much to their surprise, and once the complete confirmation is done, they will move into the GF, to assist with the Borg…and Unicron.

They were classed as the front team. Once they is a confirmation of what number their up against, more ships will be sent. Starfleet is very serious about what is going on with the giant planet eater.

Picard was seen in his office, sitting at his desk, waiting calmly, sipping at a cup of Earl Grey…The idea of working with the GF was one he'd rather not think about. Ever since the fall of SCI he always felt the reformed empire was nothing but trouble, and so far they've proven him quite right.

Soon, a call was being received on his personnel computer, and answered it, it was Admiral Forester. "Captain Picard. It's been fully signed. All border stations on the Galactic federation end have been noted, and have agreed to stand down….you're in charge of the frontline…Good luck out there."

Picard nodded. "Understood Admiral. Picard out.". he switched off his computer, and left his desk, heading to the bridge. He walked over to his chair, and sat down.

Riker was seen next to him. "So, Is it time?"

"Yes. Data, send the signal to all other vessels, then plot the coordinates for Gaia VII, warp 3. Nice and slow. We don't want to ruin our welcome. If any traces of Borg activity are found, I want the location and a change in course to intercept."

Data nodded. "Aye sir."

Riker gave a little sigh. "So…this is it then, the war with the Galactic Federation suddenly stopped because of this one thing. One thing we're all suppose to be afraid of."

Picard looked at him. "Perhaps we are meant to be, Perhaps we're not. Right now though, we just need to stop it. Stop this Unicron."

Soon, the Enterprise, with the other ships in tow, engaged to warp 3, setting off into the once forbidden space of the mighty Galactic Federation…

* * *

Vile was pissed off. He and Flame Stag were right now a good distance into Brinstar, and no trace since the entrance of Brinstar, of Shadow, Rouge or Omega have been found. He had finally ordered Flame Stag to stop looking, and both of them to rethink about this.

"This is fucking stupid, we should've picked up something by now! How the hell did they managed to get away without leaving a hint?!"

Flame Stag was just as confused. "I have no earthly idea. It doesn't add up at all. We can't just keep running around guessing though. Perhaps we should fall back and inform Grievous?"

Vile thought about this, then shook his head. "No. I got a better plan. Lets' chill out at the base and wait for them. They'll to doubt come back to it, in order to inform Keaton or otherwise, and then we can certainly question them and their speedy getaway, how ever they done it. And if they have a few, shall we say, new allies, such as Dark Megaman and those that escaped…heh, we can destroy them."

Flame Stag nodded in agreement, and both he and Vile set off back out of the jungles of Brinstar, back to the planet surface to return to the base.

* * *

Chad was annoyed as fuck right now. There he was, in bed, having a lovely snooze, then he finds himself, sitting in one of the prison transport ships of the GF, he hands cuffed, sitting on a metal bench, next to him, Knuckles, Megaman, Zhao Yun, Gutsman and Lan. On the other side of the ship, there was Anna, Shademan, Quickman, Zhang Fei, Guan Yu and Liu Bei.

The Prison designed ships arrived shortly after Keaton ordered the arrest of them, and they had begun collecting up the people of the base, putting them in the ships and to await a second nearby warship of the GF to arrive and collect them, one with a larger prison hold then Keaton's vessel, including an area designed for giant beings such as the transformers.

The Transformers, led by Optimus Prime and Megatron, of the Autobots and Decepticons respectively, were a little resistant to the arrest, but once Dr Light calmed them down, they had been shut themselves down reluctantly. For these, once the other Warship arrives, it hold have to deploy it's own large transport vessels to collect them.

Optimas Prime of Cybertron, a nearby planet of Earth II. His one of the much, much larger residents of the hero base. He is a kind and just machine, who can transform into a cab over red semi-truck. His a leader of a band of robots called Autobots, who had, several years ago, been mostly hired into the GF, along with their once sworn enemies, the Decepticons. Optimas Prime, Along with Ironhide and bumblebee, moved to the hero base due to Optimas's connection to Dr Light.

Keaton had purposely denied Optimas and his two allies to work for him, and told them they should stay on their planet and guard it, along with another three that Keaton purposely denied, Megatron, Soundwave and Starscream.

Keaton felt that, with these six following their comrades about, they would never be truly loyal to the GF, so, he made sure the six robots stayed put, while the rest were sent off to the frontlines mainly, to handle the fighting. Soon, Optimas Prime and Megatron realized that this had occurred, and tried to contact their allies, but got no response, meaning that either they were destroyed, or Keaton had changed their communication codes.

The two Cybertron leaders knew they had been played, and felt no need to stay on their planet anymore, and soon, once Optimas Prime had spoken to Dr light about his situation, Dr Light understood, and told Optimas Prime about the hero base, and wondered if he and the 5 others wanted to help on building it. In return, Optimas Prime and the others would be allowed to stay and work with others from around the universe.

There was one person that wouldn't get arrested, and he was already on Keaton's back.

"You DARE tell me that you have committed this arrest without asking us, the High Ministers!? I demand you release them all at once! Or I swear to Blind Lo Keaton, you will find yourself scrubbing the floors of the Shinra Tower!"

Keaton quickly bowed in Yuan Shao's presence. He knew this was coming, and had the perfect idea to deal with it. "My apologises, Minister Yuan Shao, but we must arrest them under the universal protection act."

Yuan Shao was infuriated. "Universal Protection Act!? Their no threat to the universe! Are you stupid!? Pah, what am I saying, of course you are!"

Keaton bit his lip a little, he couldn't say anything of any insult back at Yuan Shao, lest he wanted it noted to the other High Ministers. "I cannot let them go. You may go with them to the prison they will be escorted to, then speak to the other High Ministers. That is all I can offer you, sir."

Yuan Shao looked away from him in utter disgust. "Humph! Very well! But mark my words, I'll make sure that you don't forget this!"

Inside the ship once again, Chad sat there, sighing. "I come back from two years, fight a baddie, baby-sit the bastard, then find myself arrested for most likely looking after him. This just isn't my day…"

Anna smiled weakly at him. "Hey, at least we're okay still right? And if they can't get their hands on Darkmega, we can go home free as birds."

Chad nodded. "Yeah I guess your right on that one Anna, as long as they don't find Darkmega…"

* * *

"God, I forgot what it was like going this far down….HEY ZHANG LIAO! Keep going! I'm not stopping in the middle you know!"

"I'm moving! I'm moving! Sun Jian, don't look down for Blind Lo's sake! If your so worried, just look up at me and Samus!"

"This is nuts, this is nuts, this is nuts…"

"Ridley! RIDLEY! We need a pick up! Sun Jians yet stopped again! I don't think we'll make it down with him like this! You'll have to just take him down to the bottom with you!"

"Jeez, after this large fucking robot thing Medi?…ugh christ…"

There, in a line down one of the many red walls of Brinstar depths, clinging onto the rock sides and red vines, from the top to bottom, was Samus, Zhang Liao, Sun Jian, Medi, Rouge, Rock, Darkmega, Blues and Shadow.

Above them, the platform they had to climb off was long since gone in the darkness, far, far above them…and below, the ground floor, couldn't be seen. All what was emitting a glow to show them where they were, was a large pink formation of crystals, which glowed now and then, a whole pillar of them, which went all of the way back up to where they came from, and beyond.

This was the way down, into the true Brinstar depths.

Ridley had used his gift of flight to take E123 Omega down to the ground floor, due to the machine having difficultly holding onto the safer parts of the wall while going down, and right at the start, nearly fell, if it weren't for Ridley's speed.

Shadow would've got them all down there with Chaos Control, but this strange pink pillar of crystal was effecting the Emerald, much to his annoyance. Ridley just said Chaos Energy has never been touched here, so of course they never knew of the effects the crystal could do. It even effected battlechips, to Medi's surprise, when she wanted to see if a rapid use of Area Steal might get them down, but instead nothing happened.

Shadow was cursing his luck, as they all waited for Ridley. "Of all the people they dragged along, they got one that hates climbing.."

Soon, the dragon had flown up, and gently prized Sun Jian off the side, and took him down to the bottom. "Alright guys! I got him!"

Samus shouted down. " Well good! Alright everyone! Mush! Mush! I've never liked hanging around! Come on move!"

They continued their descent down, and after a good 30 minutes of Samus complaining about their speed, or lack of, they all finally rejoin Sun Jian and E123 Omega at the bottom of the long shaft, with two doors leading out.

Shadow looked around, while the others were catching their breath. "Where's the space dragon got to?"

E123 Omega walked up to him. "Ridley has taken the west door, wishing to 'check something out.' he advises we are to take the east door into the depths in order to hide."

Samus looked a tad confused. "The west door if I recall doesn't lead to much. Used to lead to an upgrade before I raided the place. And that upgrade was my improved X-ray scanner…for getting more upgrades."

"He must've went that way for a reason, maybe we should wait for him." Medi said.

"Nah, he'll be fine. I can take us from here. He'll catch up." Samus said, looking at the east door, and walking over to it, opening it up with a button on the side. "Come on, lets see if we can find anything while hiding. I might've missed something last time I could use."

As she walked off, the others begun to follow, all but Shadow. Rouge stopped for a moment and looked at him. "Shadow?"

He looked at the west door for a moment, then at her. "I'm going to track Ridley. Just to make sure."

Rouge nodded. "Alright, you be careful." and left with the others, while Shadow went through the western door.

The corridor he entered was rather dark. The only way he saw inside, was by little fly like creatures, with glowing rear ends, flying around. He walked around, avoiding the odd spiked floor between platforms, and then found himself at a huge gap between two. One the next on along, was a door, between, spikes, at least a miles worth, and no way for him to cross, not without help.

He pulled out the Red Chaos Emerald, and felt it's power flow into him. Thankfully it was readily available now, that he was away from those crystals.

"CHAOS…CONTROL!" he vanished, and then found himself right next to the door. After going through, he noticed something. The room must've been different earlier, because there was fresh rubble, and just little remnants of floating particles of dust…this room suffered a cave in of some sort. Thankfully the platform he was on was above where the rubble went, no doubt covering up whatever was below, no doubt more traps by the pirates.

The massive chunk of the roof had fallen, and by the looks of it, a fresh hole in the hole, must've been by a large explosion, could've caused the weakness in the structure, making it collapse. In the hole, as he saw, was Ridley, looking at something inside. Shadow crossed over the rubble, being careful as he went, and arrived at where Ridley was. "Ridley, what happened here? Whats-" he stopped.

He saw what Ridley was looking at. It was beneath them, inside this…ancient room of some sort that's been uncovered. It was filled with Chozo pictures, embedded into the stone walls, but that wasn't all, far below, seen by the blue stones around the massive hall like room, which gave the lighting, was a skeleton. Of a massive, serpent like creature.

It was huge, for a, perhaps extinct species of Zebes. From what seemed to be the head to the tailbone, it had to be at least 200 meters long.

"…Ridley, did you blast the wall down to this?"

Ridley shook his head. "No. I thought I heard an explosion, and just came to check it out…and found it like this…"

Shadow looked at it again. "…What was it?"

"I don't know. It doesn't look like a species that I've seen before on Zebes…the nearest thing I would say is the species called Botwoon, but they live in water, and only stay in Maridia. And they're alot smaller then this."

He jumped off the platform, and landed near the skeleton. Shadow jumped off, spinning, and landed next to him. Shadow couldn't help but feel a chill down his spine, like this isn't the best place to be right now. As Ridley looked at the skeleton again, examining it, Shadow looked at the pictures on the wall.

He saw one of a man, a…pepper pot looking thing, and between them, a giant serpent. Above them, was twenty different sun dials, each with several shadows. The next one along showed an army of humans, from the shape of them, and marching towards the serpent, who had unleashed some sort of fiery breath, burning the men. The next one showed the serpent looking the other way, with an army of those pepper pots, also being burned from it's fiery breath.

After that, there was Chozo writing, which he failed to understand. He wasn't one to bother with learning this stuff, hell, on Mobius, there was hardly any hints to the Chozo being present. "Ridley, come look at this."

Ridley walked over to where Shadow was and looked at the writing. "You know what it says?" Shadow asked.

Ridley nodded. He knew his Chozo language well. The pirate lords needed to know it, so they could take whatever hidden treasures these bird beings might've hid and use it, back in the day, that is.

"It reads about a giant creature of abilities that allowed it to flow through space and time. It had control over it's actions, but felt a lack of meaning. It had battled others that had the shared gift of travelling through what makes the passing of time, and divides each Universe. It felt no regret, no fear. By the hand of humans with the gift, and Chozo, after many battles, they had lured it to a chamber, and sealed it away, where the walls were grafted with spells and energy that isolated it's power, where it could not escape."

"After thirty cycles, the Chozo opened the chamber, and found the being dead, starved of food and life. It had perished. They disabled the power that sealed it and had written this down to remember the creature that the humans called Serris."

Shadow looked at the pictures after the writing, and indeed, they showed the creature entering this chamber, where some of the men and the Chozo were, then the next one showed them outside it, with the creature in, with what appeared to be an aura around it, that was unable to escape the walls. And the final picture on this wall showed it was on the ground, dead, as the Chozo entered once again.

Shadow then looked at the skeleton. "So this was Serris huh? A time travelling serpent…and something opened up this chamber?"

Ridley nodded. "Seems like it. As I said, I heard an explosion. And whatever caused it has either gone into hiding, or disappeared before I got here."

Ridley heard the click of a gun, and quickly moved from one side of the room to the other, as a wave of heated energy bullets fired towards him from the platform they came from. "Whoa! The hell!?"

Then he and Shadow overheard, two, very similar, and also familiar, voices.

"Calm down! That's not the Ridley either of us know remember!?"

"You should know as well as anyone what the bastards are like!"

Ridley and Shadow both looked up, and spotted something….quite unusual.

There was Samus, in her full Chozo gear, arguing with…Samus, as the voice clearly gave away, who held an energy rifle, and wore a more slicker, human designed Chozo power armor suit. It had the same colourings of the Chozo suit plus Varia modification, like the one Samus was wearing, but it certainly wasn't the same bulky appearance.

It appears the one who held the rifle was the one that fired. "I would rather spare Mother Brain then this goddamn abomination!"

The one in the normal gear stepped closer to her counterpart, leaning towards her. "This ISN'T your universe! Stand, down!"

"Samus, the Samus of my universe I mean, listen to her. We need to we careful what we do around here." It was a male voice, behind the two women, so it sounded like. Then, he walked into view, placing a hand on the angry Samus's shoulder. Ridley knew right away what he was, a species known in the Farside called Turians.

This one appeared to wear dark blue armor all over bar his head, showing his grey hardened skin, a visible scar on his face, and was wearing an eye piece over one of his eyes, that glowed, showing data of some sort.

The one with the rifle glared at her proper armoured self, then looked down at Ridley and Shadow, both were giving perplexed looks at what was going on.

She soon lowered her rifle down. "Fine. But if that thing gives even a hint of aggression, I'm gunning it down."

Then, a new male voice was heard. "Well, glad that's sorted! If you both can excuse me…" Then, another figure appeared in view, moving past the two Samus's, and the Turian, looking down at Ridley and Shadow. He was human, with short brown hair, striped black jacket and trousers, and had a long brown trench coat on. "Ah hah! Shadow, no wonder you remembered this place, you're here!"

Then, well, Shadow, appeared on the platform, with the strange folk.

Ridley looked at Shadow over there, and at the Shadow that was on the same level as himself. The man in the trench coat quickly spoke up, in a rather, relaxed, and eased voice. "It's alright. As long as our Shadow doesn't directly touch the past Shadow, then no paradox will occur."

Ridley looked at him oddly. "That's not the point, why is there…wait did you say PAST Shadow?"

Shadow, who now went over near Ridley, was just as stunned. Who the hell were these guys? And why was, he, there with them?

The man in the coat spoke again. "Yeah I did. Now it's best that after here you guys don't talk about this but between yourselves since our Shadow here seemed to have forgotten the fact you two, meaning him, bumped into us until now."

Ridley just stood there, baffled as hell. "…Look whatever. Who are you? What's with Samus working with…that Samus, and why are you here?"

"Well we can explain in a moment. Shadow, get all five of us done there. Subaru, you can come out of hiding now, along with Misora."

Ridley then noticed, in front of him and Shadow, beneath where the platform was, fazing into view, were two humanoid youngsters.

One was a boy, looking like Megaman in some ways, but with brown spiked up hair just behind the helmet he wore, which was blue with a red visor on the front, with a blue wolf head on his left hand, with glowing green energy around it and red eyes.

The other was a girl, blond haired, wearing a dome like pink helmet, with two white metal circular parts coming out of it, a black underlay suit, pink and white stripy arm clothes, ending at pink gloves, a pink mini dress, with a heart symbol on the front, a metal looking pink footwear going up to her knees. To top it off, she had an extremely long white scarf coming from the back of her dress, and had a blue guitar, heart shaped where the strings were, and a face, with yellow eyes was seen at the head of it.

Then, appearing in front of the two in a flash of red, were the two Samus's, the Turian, The man in the trench coat, and, Blues, Dr Light's robot.

The man smiled. "Well, let's get the introductions done, shall we? Call me the Doctor. This is Blues, from universe 8, the Samus in the normal known Chozo armor is from that universe too. This is Subaru-"

The kid named Subaru waved at Shadow and Ridley as the Doctor motioned at him. "Hi!"

"-and this is Misora-"

Misora gave a small wave.

"And this is Shadow. You from about 200 years from now, where Subaru and Misora also come from. Finally this is Garrus Vakarian-"

"Hey, how's it going?"

"And this is Samus. From universe 19, where Garrus is also from."

The battle rifle holding Samus just kept an eye on Ridley.

"-and we're all here thanks to my ship called the Tardis. We got dragged here after the ship picked up this is where the rift effect anomaly started." The Doctor finished with.

The present Shadow looked baffled at the Future one, who explained. "The Tardis is a time travelling blue box, so to speak. We came from universe 19 after looking around it's version of Unicron. It hinted that the rift it's creating, the source of it, came from here."

The Doctor continued " And as we approached, the Cloister Bell went off, meaning something is wrong. Only very serious problems cause it to trigger…" He looked at the skeletal remains of Serris, his voice turning serious and concerned. "…But I never expected it would be about this…" he stepped over towards the remains. "…Could it be though? Why would it sound when this thing is already dead…"

Subaru spoke up. "What is it, Doctor?"

The Doctor was staring at the skull of the Creature, as he talked. "Serris. It's a part of a group of creatures called Leviathans. Chaotic, destructive, those are the few words that come into my head right now. It was one of the worst nightmares that existed before a lot of things…he wasn't all powerful, or as deadly as alot of other beings that exist, it was even just a one off creature, it had no siblings or other like it…but it would come and go before you could stop it…causing misery in it's wake."

He walked towards the skull, with Ridley and Shadow watching him, as he soon stopped near it, looking right into the numerous eye sockets it had."Travellers like me had to be careful. Normally if it enters the same time waves as you, you wouldn't survive. It would devour ships that crossed it…it's eaten it's fair share of time lords…"

Ridley was still trying to get his head all round this. "Hold on, What's this about a Unicron? What rift?"

Blues tried to explain. "Their version of Unicron is dead. It's a husk, an empty machine shell. But it's suddenly been brought to life, and started to tear a hole in space and time. Thing is, Unicron is only part of the problem, something else is helping in the creation of the rift, and if we don't find out what, that rift will expand, and it connects to what is called 'dark space'…and there's large menacing machines looking for just such a shortcut."

Samus, the universe 8 on, then continued. "Better still, if that rift keeps growing, it'll connect to other universes…and those machines will get access to them too."

The space dragon just stared for a minute, then, shook his head. "Yeah, okay sure. It's…yeah. Sure."

The Doctor looked around the chamber carefully. "Serris set off the Cloister Bell for a reason…either his ghost is haunting the Tardis…or his not dead anymore…"

Ridley stepped over towards the skull of Serris, and knocked on it a little with his fist, making a hard thudding sound. "Looks dead to me."

The Doctor stopped dead in his tracks, and looked over to Ridley, almost horrified. "Ridley…do that again…"

Ridley knocked on it again. "What?"

"…That's, worrying…"

Shadow of the Future looked at him a little confused. "Whats wrong Doctor?"

"It's the sound…Serris's bones were made of pure metal, metal bones…and yet that made the sound of normal bones…like as if someone made fake ones…Replaced the real deal…"

"Oh, that's not good…" Garrus looked at his universe Samus whilst saying this, before they all heard a distinctive roar, high pitch and ear piecing, echo throughout the area.

Above them, as if phasing into existence, as several colours, rapidly changing over and over, until it had fully phased in, looking down at them, was the giant serpent Serris.

Serris, was at least now 250 meters long, with a dark green underbelly, which look like it was made of stone, it's upper half was covered in giant metal blue scales, with an outer rib cage from it's neck to the rest of it's body covering most of it's underbelly. It had five golden eyes, and a massive maw, filled with metal claded fangs, designed to rip warships into nothing. On top of it's head, was a see through skull, which showed it's fleshy brain, glowing with an eerie yellow aura. It bellowed out once again.

The Doctor noticed the second it stopped roaring, it's eyes had looked down, and were looking right at him. "S…S…Serris…it's…it's been…" it was like staring death in the face, as it begun to open it's mouth…

He was suddenly grabbed and moved, by the future Shadow, As Garrus pulled out a Sniper rifle that fired powerful blue energy shots, his Samus using her rifle, the other Samus firing Plasma Beam shots at the creature, while Blues fired his arm cannon.

The attacks seem to just bounce off Serris's hardened scales, as he dived down towards where The Doctor was previously standing, both the Doctor and Shadow it's maw, as it just…simply phased through the ground in it's multi coloured state, disappearing.

Ridley was stunned. "The hell!? Where'd it go!?"

Subaru looked around frantically, then, a voice came from the wolf head on his hand. "Subaru! It's brief energy signature's gone! It must've vanished!"

After future Shadow quickly checked if the Doctor was okay, the man looked over to where Serris last was. "It's going to go through time! It knows it can escape! We need to chase after it! Come on! Shadow, Chaos Control us back to the Tardis, Quickly!"

The future Shadow nodded, and just before he did, he looked at his past self and Ridley for a moment. "…Take care of yourselves, Shadow…" He seemed to go silent, looking at Ridley for a while more…something in his eyes showed regret, almost, sadness. "…Ridley….CHAOS CONTROL!"

And with that, the seven people from a different times and places, vanished, leaving Ridley and Shadow standing there, in silence.

"…..What the fuck, man, I mean seriously, what the fuck…" Ridley just blurted out.

Shadow shook his head, looking around at the walls, before looking up at the platform they came from. "We just need to take it as it comes Ridley. The future is the future…we'll never understand until we get there."

Ridley just nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I suppose so. We may as well try and get back to the others. Here, get on my back. I'll fly us to them." he bent down, and Shadow jumped on, a little surprised.

"You know, I can easily just run."

As Ridley took off, flapping his wings, Shadow held on. "Yeah you could, but I know this planet like the back of my claw. I know the quickest routes and shortcuts, and I can easily guess which directions they went. I'd rather not have to slightly slow down just for you."

Shadow just responded with a huff, as they left the Chozo area, and soon enough, past the hall where the huge pink crystal pillar was, flying past waterways and several platforms…then, they both heard an almighty roar, from somewhere by the sounds of it, ahead, but still far away.

Shadow raised an eyebrow slightly. "…What was that?"

Ridley seemed to think about for a moment…then his eyes widened. "Oh man…it can't be…please, please, in the name of my ancestral spirits, tell me Samus has NOT just led them to…"

* * *

Kraid.

The monstrous lizard was before them all, roaring out in fury at their arrival into it's lair, which Samus was REALLY sure would be vacant, until Darkmega pointed out the fat, green belly with three holes in at the other end of the room, which then up close to the ceiling, three red eyes appeared, glaring down…Samus cursed in both Chozo and Human.

She had already started to fire missiles at it's head, smacking the eyes, and shooting a few into it's mouth, making it screech in pain, before stomping around, trying to crush her and the rest. Along with that, it was also firing large green spikes out of it's three hole within it's stomach, along with it swinging it's claws, firing out the tips like bullets, which regrew on it's fingers in mere moments.

Omega E123 was firing it's Lasers at the body, which was doing nothing, with the help of Medi and Darkmega using cannon battle chips, along with Rock and Blue as well, firing charged shots, trying to make it get back, but it was hardly even noticing them.

Sun Jian and Zhang Liao had both triggered their musou, and ran right up at Kraid and attempted to repeatedly stab it's stomach with their weapons…which only rebounded off, not even scratching the skin. They had to then quickly avoid it's feet, as it tried to crush them.

Rouge flew up to near it's face and attempted to kick it as Samus stopped firing for a moment, but all the kick did was make the thing focus on her and swings it's claws, firing it's razor sharp nails at her. Thankfully she dodged them and flew back, looking down at Samus, wondering why she seemed to stop.

There was a reason alright, and Samus was cursing it. Her missiles had just run out. "Fuck fuck FUCK!" she changed to the super missiles and opened fire, but of them she only had 9 left after her encounter with Omega. She fired them in quick succession, most of them just hitting the face, and only two getting in Kraid's vulnerable maw, making it roar out in agony, and take a few steps back, but soon it was moving forward again, determined to crush them all.

Samus looked over at Omega, as he was still attempting to shoot at it's stomach. "Hey tinhead! Fire at it's goddamn head and mouth! No wait even better! Everyone! Fire at it's fricken head!"

Omega, Blues, Rock, Medi and Darkmega did as they were told, all aiming and firing up at the giant lizard's face. The rush of weaponry shots to it seemed to make it open it's mouth once again, and getting a mouthful of pain, but instead of going backwards, Kraid did the smart thing. Start moving forwards, TOWARDS them instead of away. In their previous encounter, Samus managed to topple Kraid without so much trouble. This time though he seemed more determined and stronger…two things that she certainly didn't need right now.

As Kraid moved forwards, everyone moved backwards, slowly back towards the door, which out of convenience, was locked. Samus hated the fact that some of these doors had auto locking settings to trap her and force her to face whatever was beyond them. She wished the pirates would shut off things before leaving.

It was then, they heard the door unlock, and running in, was Shadow, quickly followed by Ridley flying in. Shadow run over to the others, who stopped firing for a moment, as Ridley flew up towards Kraid, who glared at him.

Ridley flew right up to his face, and spoke in a unique language. "Tia shin in'shipa Kraiken! Tia shin in'shipa!"

Kraid looked confused at him, and just stood there.

Ridley spoke again. "Goed xidgi. Jid quain fu du." then, he flew off behind Kraid, and landed near the room Kraid was resting near, the one that Kraid guarded the last time Samus was here. He entered that room, leaving the others standing there, looking at the towering behemoth, which was looking down at them, but not moving.

"Samus…what did Ridley just tell that thing?" Medi asked worriedly.

"Well, from my knowledge of their language, space pirate universal I mean, it sounded like at first, 'cease this attack Kraid, cease this attack.' then 'hold friend. I'll fetch it now' ….I think?"

Then they saw Ridley return, flying back up to Kraid's face, carrying four…purple coloured human head sized mushroom. Kraid opened his mouth, and Ridley threw them in. Kraid stood there afterwards, as if waiting, then, slowly, he begun to shrink.

Smaller and smaller, seemingly calm at the situation. Ridley flew down and landed near the others. "You lot okay? That is our Samus you're with isn't it?"

Samus just looked completely baffled at that statement, while Blues just answered "Yeah, we're fine, what did you mean with 'our Samus', and what's happening to…"

"Don't worry about the Samus thing. As for Kraid, You guys wait here, I'll talk to him when his ready." He walked over to Kraid, who was still going smaller, now twice the height of Ridley….then one and half, then just matching Ridley's full height, then a little bit more, then, he stopped shrinking.

He seemed to just blink a few times, then looked at Ridley and actually spoke to him in a deep male voice. "Ridlik! Gof gtien ndo zier!" (Samus translator: Ridley! How have you been!)

Ridley smiled at him. " Fues zier a ehou, guiesti fu Kraikin?" ( It's been a while, hasn't it Kraid?)

Kraid nodded, then looked behind Ridley, at the others. Ridley looked as well, as Kraid said " Ndoer xidgies beng she hurniter du? Sug, gof duoges ao meing…" ( You're friends with the hunter now? My, how things do change…)

Ridley looked at Kraid again, leaving the others but Samus looking confused. " Veek, shat aoesnt detenr. Lajk wak ndo aodig gist? Ndo, begenv quest beng she spiral blodew…" ( Look, that doesn't matter. What are you doing here? You, should've left with the Space Pirates…)

"Yaian carac gist, Ridlik." (They're still here, Ridley.)

Ridley looked stunned at him. "…Lajk?" (…What?)

Kraid nodded. "Yaian carac gist. Ke para yai gotou seg jerejay inas uri orobos ek, yenten tik feg lee lajke buiden ek." (They're still here. No doubt they heard me earlier and are already on, their way to see what's going on.)

Ridley just appeared dumbstruck for a moment. Then, the door was heard opening, and entering, were several Space Pirates…all which stopped dead in their tracks seeing the people, especially Ridley and Samus.

There was an eerie silence, before Ridley walked away from Kraid, over to the space pirates, who still looked shocked, and soon, he said to them. "Lajke mi zoos?" (What's up boys?)

* * *

Space Pirates. Scourge of the universe as they've been known in the old days. Now their just seen as another problem to a list.

They were believed to have been driven out of the GF territory after their severe defeat on Zebes, along with their armada being crushed straight after, the several ships that remained fled. Of course now it seems, not all of them had left.

One group of them had stayed in Tourian, or what's left of it to be precise, as they were only living in the few corridors that remained after Samus's and Mother brains fight in the lower areas.

Tourian was near the centre of the planet, the main base of the Space Pirates here. All rather a mess after what Samus had done, but the pirates chose to call it home just to keep their spirits up.

They had led the group, along with Kraid, to their hideout, and explained everything to Ridley, as Samus tried to keep up with what they were saying so she could tell the others.

The pirates explained they were going to flee with the rest, but the surprise attack from the GF forces and their assault on any grounded pirate transport ships rendered them without a way to get home, and with all the damaged equipment, there was no way in contacting their allies. Kraid was due to be transported with them to one of the warships, known as Al'forate.

Since then they've been simply surviving, and kept Kraid in his lair until there was a chance that the pirate forces would come back and collect them over the years. Kraid said that it was them that helped him recover from his wounds against his last encounter against Samus, before the one just recently.

Obviously that has not happened. Ridley explained what had happened to him after his duel with Samus in Norfair before the fall of Tourian and the base. Once the assault occurred, his warship was the first to flee the scene, and he admitted he saw the Al'forate get destroyed, believing Kraid was killed. After that, once the Space Pirates reformed and explained Mother Brain and her blueprints had fallen into GF hands, and they needed a new leader, he chose this as the best time to hand in his notice.

Mother Brain, in his eyes, had led his pirate brethren to new heights, and helped them build a formidable force against the GF. With her death and his partner in crime and his true friend in the ranks of the pirates, Kraid, gone too, he didn't want any more part in it, choosing to look for his own path once again.

He found himself wondering the planets, inside GF territory, now at first, were dangerously uneasy with him, which caused him a lot of trouble on planets. He soon found a home though, when he visited Earth X and saw the Hero Base while it was being built. He bumped into Dr Wily and Dr Light, who seemed very happy to meet him in person, which threw him off a little, until they explained what their project was.

He said to the pirates it's given him a new direction in his career. They asked him what he was doing, and he told them…they just stared in disbelief, and Kraid roared with laughter, Ridley just crossed his arms, glaring at them.

Then he said all about what was doing on right now, why they were down here. Shadow told him about the fact their friends were being arrested, as he overheard while they were leaving to find them, and no doubt taken away. The pirates expressed their sincere apologies to Ridley for his new allies being in trouble, and Kraid even said if there was anything they could do to help an old friend, they'll do it.

Ridley looked at them…and smiled, as if an idea just popped up. He looked at Rouge. "…I take it mister Keaton would no less leave a few troopers waiting for you to report back right? Along with some transport ships waiting?"

Rouge nodded. "Of course he would have. He doesn't trust our kind with anything. No doubt several guards inside that base of yours and outside on the surface where they landed…"

Ridley nodded, happy with that information. He looked at Kraid and the pirates. " Xidgies, omepan te cet vewe hotewener…" (Friends, perhaps we can help eachother…)

* * *

Keaton was aboard his vessel once again, looking out of the command bridge windows, as they slowly left orbit of Planet Zebes, the second warship, carrying his prisoners had already departed. He had ordered five groups of GF troopers to wait for the return of Vile, Flame Stag, those mobians and that robot, with an extra transport ship should they manage to capture Darkmega and anyone that was with him.

He had ordered Master Chief, Snake and Colonel to go with the prisoner ship while he would have Grievous stay with him. The cyborg was right now looking at a computer after one of the officers asked him to come over quickly and check.

Keaton closed his eyes for a moment, relaxed and eased that sooner or later, those annoying idiots will be dealt with, if they don't find Darkmega, then making False evidence will be a piece of piss anyway. He then heard the metal footsteps of Grievous walking over to him. "Grand Commander, it seems that the High Ministers have sent you a message."

Keaton opened his eyes. "Put it on hologram display in front of me." Grievous nodded, and looked over to the officer at the computer, who understood and typed in something. The next moment, a green screen appeared in front of Keaton with the message.

….That eased feeling had suddenly died.

Anger built up, and his left hand was shaking as he clenched it. He finally got to the end of the message. "…Terminate the screen!" the officer done so quickly.

There was silence, as Grievous looked ahead, out at the stars, along with Keaton. "….It would seem, Grand Commander, the High Ministers have taken dealings with our enemies into their own hands now."

Keaton just stood there. "…So, it, would seem…"

"A truce between the three great empires, all for this Unicron…and they want you to deal with him personally. In exchange, they will grant you-"

"Be silent Grievous!" Keaton snapped. "I've always deserved that seat from the very beginning! They're just rubbing it into my face! My pride!" He forced himself to calm down a little, looking back outside. His left hand came up to his chest, still clenched tightly and shaking. "But…that's fine. I'll remove this goddamn planet machine myself! Then they can no longer deny me this! I'll finally gain my right, and I'll make sure they are all punished!"

Keaton panted, trying to make himself keep his cool. He was just maddened by this. "Grievous, inform all ready and able warships to track, and form up nearby the planet eater. Once I arrive…we attack, and destroy it. Get to it!"

Grievous nodded, and left him alone, ordering the officers on the bridge about. Keaton just stood there, watching the stars…once he had that seat of power, there will be alot of changes, especially to the High Ministers, he'll have new ones, ones that fear him, respect him. He'll get rid of those five heads of outsiders, and FORCE them to bow down to the might of the Galactic Federation.

* * *

In the vast, deep realms of space. Unicron waited. To everyone else, it looked like he was adrift, but right now, he was simply sleeping, to keep his energy levels high. Soon, coming into view, were not only the two Borg cubes that carried the Zerg, but four others, all coming near each other and heading towards Unicron. Four of the six looked battered and heavily damaged. It had been a struggle to get this far, this deep into enemy territory.

Unicron awoke slowly, while energy coming out of his mouth, to signal his awakening. "**So, you have arrived at last. Well done."**

One of the Borg ships hailed him. "We have come with your allies as wished. We will transport them over to you now."

Richard, and the Zerg, were teleported over without any trouble to Unicron. They had appeared inside of him, inside one of his vast halls, all looking around cautiously. Unicron spoke to Richard. "**Excellent. I see you are well. We will begin your training shortly. But first…**"

His voice now reached out to the Borg. "**You wish to have perfection. I, am the embodiment of it.**"

"We wish only for perfection. You have formed an alliance with us. In exchange, you will grant us the technology to become closer to perfection."

"**Indeed, I did say I would grant you the technology, but sadly, as far as I can see, our alliance, is terminated. You have completed the task I sent you for, to collect my forces. Now…**"

His mouth slowly opened up, it's metal fangs like fragments moving up and back, to show the hole leading into Unicron, the white light had faded from it. And then, a blood red light, flowing out and flickering, covering the Borg cubes, had appeared. "**Proceed, on your way to oblivion."**

The light was actually billions of particles of raw energy…burning the hulls of the Borg cubes, crushing them, ripping them open. The cyborgs inside were shaking, feeling the energy flowing around them, many of them actually screaming in pain, some of them just ripping into pieces, the machines pieces falling off the flesh, killing the hosts. A few of the cubes attempted to fight back, firing their phasers and photon torpedoes, but it did nothing to Unicron. It only made him laugh as they weakly tried to resist. One of the Borg cubes made a break for it, managing to escape the energy, and warping out of the area, with it's outer hull mostly destroyed, just barely managing to collect itself together.

The other cubes weren't so lucky. They were slowly being torn up, and eventually, one by one, they exploded, their energy cores unable to hold up against such power. All what was left of the cubes, was slowly, as the energy went from red to bright green, was being pulled into Unicron's mouth. This was his tractor beam, the same thing he used on countless space stations and warships that have come to pass. All of the pieces went inside, to feed the Planet machine. Scrap or not, it was a meal.

Unicron soon shut off the energy, and his mouth closed, as he begun to move slowly once again. His destination was not to the capital of the Galactic Federation, but a nearby planet…one that seemed very familiar…his memory, of a life he had, flooded in for a moment, the planet was known as Hylian, which has a main capital called Hyrule, which by blood rights, will eventually go to Zelda once her father passes.

He looked to the planet…and inside his memories, he saw himself there once, a warrior of light, of truth and justice…millions of years ago…his mind soon focused on the now though, and after such small snacks, his hunger could no longer wait for Gaia VII. He knew he would hunger again soon enough, but right now, The planet nearby was filled with life, class M, nice and ripe, to be engulfed by him…

* * *

Back on Zebes, it was all silent inside the Hero base, waiting in the main room of it, which was all shut down, was Flame Stag and Vile. Outside, on the surface, the troops waited for them to report of anything…

One of the troopers decided to stray away from his group, looking at the landscape in slight awe…then, he thought he saw, over at a cluster of trees…a, purple tail…he wasn't sure though, and just regarded it as just local wildlife.

His group captain was seen with the others. Looking around and sighing. "Sigh, where is private Ryan?"

"I dunno sir, he was with us a moment ago. Maybe his just relaxing and having a look around like he normally does."

"I swear if he keeps doing this I'll need to report his sorry ass for leaving the gro-"

They all heard a scream of terror, then a terrifying roar…then silence…all of the other groups of troopers went still, looking around cautiously.

The captain knew that scream. "…That, was private Ryans, wasn't it?"

Then, before they knew, uncloaking near them, were several Space Pirates, and roaring overhead and landing near them, making all the troopers move back in terror, was Ridley. Then coming up with him and the pirates, was Kraid, Samus, Shadow, Omega E123, Zhang Liao and Sun Jian.

The troopers knew the pirates alright, especially the two lords of them, and even felt more frightened that Samus was with them. Ridley pointed at them and shouted. " QUTS COP FU EEEK NDO! EIG ADRIAN!" (LET'S GET TO FIGHTING! GAME ON!)

Inside the base, Vile had motioned Flame Stag to come near him, as they saw Rouge walk into the main room. Vile was heard chuckling. "Well now, what do we have here? You by yourself? Heh, did your allies die? Pity really. Did you find Dark Megaman?"

Rouge smiled at them. "Why yes, I did. His in a safe place right now if you wanted to know."

Flame Stag shook his head in disappointment. "Tsk tsk, you decided to change sides then have you? And you decided to come back to us? Quite stupid if you ask me, we'll have to make you pay for this."

"If I didn't you would've come looking anyway in time."

Vile nodded. "Of course. And we would've wormed you out in time. So…quick, or slowly miss Rouge?"

Rouge looked at them, and smirked, as Blues, Medi, Darkmega and Rock came up behind her. "How about not at all, and I ask you the same question back hmm?"

Vile just chuckled once again. "What? With just them you think you've turned the tables? Please…you know who we are right? What we were once?"

He aimed his shoulder cannon, laughing. "Idiots! You're all against proud members of 666!" he fired a fully charged energy shot from it, not even needing to charge anything up. His weapon was designed for maximum firepower…and it delivered as Blues tries to use his shield to block the attack, only to find himself being sent flying back by the impact.

Rock charges up his own weapon and fires it, but Vile easily avoids it, firing another round, hitting Rock and sending him the same direction as his brother. Rouge quickly starts running towards him, only to find Flame Stag suddenly getting in the way, kicking her right in the stomach, stunning her and making her fall to her knees, before she felt his metal elbow smash into the back of her head, knocking her out cold.

Medi used the minibomb battlechip and threw one at Flame Stag, who easily shot forward, with blasting speed, and rammed into her, head butting her right in the face, making her scream in pain, as she skidding across the floor. Darkmega quickly came to her aid, forming a dark cyber sword, and swung it in Flame Stag's direction. He easily dodged to the side, then dodged another swing, and another, before jumping at Darkmega and hitting him in the face with his knee, knocking back the Navi, before he quickly grabbed Darkmega while he was stumbling, and made him look him right in the eyes, before he head butted Darkmega, not once, not twice, but three times, cracking the front of the Navi's helmet, before letting him go, and letting him hit the floor, in agony, just barely keeping awake.

Vile noticed Medi getting up, and another charged shot sorted that out, knocking her down again. What he forgot for a moment was Blues and Rock, who both had fired charged shots at him, he saw the energy balls coming at him, and quickly triggered a life aura battlechip, which was a powerful yellow energy barrier, stopping both attacks, as he then return fire, laughing as they both failed to avoid his shots, knocking them down again.

"Please, you're all unable to stand up to us! We've been especially trained to handle the odds!"

Flame Stag walked back over to Vile, as Rock and Blues forced themselves to stand up, while Medi was still trying to. "In all honesty, you may as well rolled over and waited for us to end it."

Vile nodded at him. "Yep, they should've. Now, lets' blast those two robots first, then-" a device was beeping on him wrist, flashing red.

Flame Stag looked surprised, then realized. "That's the emergency signal! Something's happening above!" he shot off up the pathway leading to the main door. Vile stood there for a moment, looking at the fallen before him, then huffs, and follows his comrade.

When they got the main door open…they saw what the problem was.

Their entire force was dead. All on the ground, some in halves, some with huge holes in them, some just…by the looks of it here, there and everywhere. And they noticed what had caused it, as they were near the main door, looking at them. The group, of Space Pirates and remnants of the base…not one of them killed in this little fight.

Vile was not impressed with this. " Typical. I knew this fodder couldn't handle anything!"

Flame Stag was not a happy machine either. "Alright you fools! Prepare to die!"

Shadow smirked. "You want to fight us? With us, and all the Space Pirates that will be arriving shortly?"

"Hah! Yeah right!"

Ridley shook his head. "You think there isn't gonna be? Look right now, we have a little group, a, scout team, before the main force. Now I've heard stories about a unit called 666...powerful, tough, but can they really handle a whole invading force, wanting this planet back?"

Flame Stag glared at him. "Ridley, one of the four lords of the Space Pirates…or was, and now is again, by the sounds of it. Why would the pirates come back? They fell along with Mother Brain!"

"Determination is a powerful thing. Do you really want to be here when they come? I offer you a choice. Stay and get killed. Or take a ship and run."

Vile looked at each and every one of them. They could well be bluffing, but without any real support, and with no way to call for backup should the pirates really arrive. He had to conclude that leaving would be the better choice. Afterall, they can easily inform Grievous and Keaton and get a counter force prepared. "….Your lucky I feel like taking a break."

Soon, Vile and Flame Stag jumped on one of the transport ships, and took off, rather quickly. Leaving the others to stand there, watching them leave. Then coming out of the base, was Rock, helping Darkmega by putting his shoulder over his, and keeping him on his feet, while Blues was carrying Rouge. Medi was following them, looking hurt.

Blues looked over at Ridley and the others. "So, it worked?"

Samus chuckled. "Like a charm. The idiots fell for it. Glad E123 detected them on the way back to the base and said they were members of the 666 Unit, otherwise we would've gotten our asses kicked…..most likely."

Ridley nodded. "Yeah. Most likely." He turned to Kraid and the Space Pirates, and bowed a little. And right after they bowed back, the Pirates with Kraid, moved to one of the four remaining transport ships, all getting into it. This was the idea proposed by Ridley. If they helped them deal with whatever GF there was, they could take one of the ships to go home with. If they make it or not is another matter, but it's better then nothing. Soon they had taken off, and flown away.

Blues then said. "Alright, now I think we should get on the ships and prepare to mount a rescue, don't you?"

Sun Jian looked at him like he was an idiot. "A rescue? When they are bound to be on a warship heavily guarded by Keaton's goons?"

Blues shrugged "Gotta try. We can't just sit around and hope for the best. And we'll get to them easily. No doubt these ships are meant for whatever warship they went on, so if we trigger the auto pilot, vola."

Ridley agreed. "Alright let's do it. Me, Samus, Shadow, Rouge, E123 and Zhang Liao will get on one ship. Blues, you, Rock, Medi, Darkmega and Sun Jian take the other, okay? Give me Rouge…" Blues gently passed her over to Ridley. "…She okay?"

"I think she's just out for the count after a blow to the head, she should recover, hopefully."

E123 spoke up. "Scan already completed. Rouge has suffered blow to the back of the skull and a blow to the stomach. She will recover."

Ridley smiled. "Good. Alright people lets get moving!"

Both groups soon got on their designated ships, and soon, both took off, leaving the atmosphere, heading out of orbit. Samus had set the auto pilot, then sat down next to Ridley on the ship. "….Ridley, those…objects you fed to Kraid earlier. I didn't want to say in front of him incase I blurted out the fact it's retarded but…weren't they…"

"Poison Mushrooms off Mario's world? Yep. We pirates put those and the Super Mushrooms on the black market very often, always sell well, and Kraid likes the taste."

"…You feed him the drugs that Mario used to abuse?…You Space Pirates are fucked up, you know that?"

* * *

Notes:

1. Unicrons energy attack is from the movie, yet it's never shown what it can do…so I pepped it up a little.

2. Space Pirate language. Yes it is random.

3. Serris is from Metroid Fusion. 4th sector boss, and a bastard to boot.

-Dragonridley


	12. Unicron: Power of a machine planet

"Inform Delta warships to move in! attack the damn thing from behind! It MUST have a weak point!"

"Sir! Alpha Squad has been terminated! All ships have been taken out by an unknown energy attack! It's firing another energy beam!"

"DAMNIT! Grievous! Take command of Omega and Gamma forces, order them as you see fit! I'll keep command of Beta and Delta!"

His ship shook violently, as they saw another white light beam fly past them, ripping through a nearby warship, tearing in two, before one half what had it's engines, exploded.

Keaton had grabbed onto some nearby rails, looking pissed off. Grievous had already gone over to some of the officers, telling them what to send to the squads Keaton gave him command of.

Keaton quickly sorted out his posture, looking out the windows of the bridge again and bellowing out commands, telling his men to tell the fleets to continue firing, hundreds of green laser fire was seen shooting at one target outside, hitting it everywhere, but getting nowhere, hundreds of small ships flying at the target firing at will, but nothing was even scratching the surface.

Their target, was none other then Unicron.

"Don't let up! Beta and Delta Squads! Deploy all ships I repeat! Deploy all ships! Swarm the bastard now!"

Like a swarm of bees, waves upon waves of small combat vessels flew out of the warships, avoiding the big ships guns, while heading towards Unicron, using their own in a effort to destroy him.

But in reality, it was more just like flies to Unicron, and his playing around with these little ships is beginning to annoy him.

"**I see that you are all blinded by your duties to attack me, instead of thinking of your own lives. Very well, I haven't had any dessert after such a wonderful main course…something, explosive…**"

His mouth opened up once more…and the green energy begun to flow out, covering hundreds of small combat ships, and at least 9 warships, one of them being Keaton's vessel. All of the other warships and combat ships begun to open fire at the open maw and stayed away from the energy, but again, it done nothing.

Keaton turned to his men, as a green light filled the bridge, making it seem everything was green. "What's going on!?"

"S-Sir! We're being pulled in! weapons fire is NOT effecting it!"

"Reverse engines! Attempt to use Alpha warp!"

The officer who was speaking to him look terrified, after trying to get the engines to function again.

"Sir! It's- it's not working! No matter what speed we use we can't escape it's unknown tractor beam! Estimate 9 minutes before we reach the opening!"

Keaton looked outside, and saw their destination, he could just see the small fighters being pulled in, being, eaten…like the planet… "..Abandon ship. I repeat! All personnel! ABANDON SHIP!"

There was no looking at Keaton like it was a bad idea, his crew just fled the bridge, all except Grievous, who begun to follow Keaton, as he walked off the bridge instead of running. They walked together side by side as panic was around them. Keaton had his own personnel escape pod, which was fitted with superior engines, hull, even a shield to save his own hide. He stepped into it, and motioned Grievous to sit inside with him, as the cyborg expected.

Keaton looked at him, as the door closed shut, and it prepared for an automatic lift off. The destination? To any nearby GF controlled planet, as the auto pilot was set for. "Grievous…it appears this will not be my day of glory."

Grievous looked directly at him. "It will be one day, Grand Commander, One day. We will find his weakness and expose it."

Dozens and dozens of escape pods launched, shooting out of the warship, along with the other warships doing the same, knowing it was hopeless…but many, many of those escape pods, were caught in the energy, and were pulled in faster then any of the other ships, the people inside saw themselves fly through the entrance into the beast, and their last sight, was three large metal walls, with teeth like parts to them in the middle, opening and closing, chomping through the feeble armour of the pods and fighters, either crushing the people, or killing them with the lack of air once their vessel was torn open. In the end, they would all become the food in which he eats.

If their luck was terrible, they would avoid all three, and instead join the rest of their friends in what appeared to be red liquid, flowing inwards, into a huge, massive hole, filled to the brim, with pink liquid…which to those survivors would find out before they died, was acid, at such a strong level, it melted the metal…and the flesh of those people, as their ships sunk into the abyss, turning into specks.

Today would not be the finest hour for the GF, that's for certain.

* * *

Ridley sighed. Two days it's been since their departure from Zebes, two days, and no sign of the warship these things were auto piloted for. It just felt like forever, as both ships were drifting on through space.

Samus looked at him, knowing how annoyed he was getting. "Ridley, these things don't have warp engines. It's gonna take time if they warped away anywhere. We just need to relax."

Ridley nodded, knowing this, but he still didn't like anything in a ship like this, with nothing to do. Rouge was a lot better now, so checking how she was is gone from time passing, and all they had was talking to their friends on the other ship, but that gets boring when neither see anything.

He looked at Shadow, who was sitting there, eyes closed. "You've been like that for the last 29 hours, you know that? How can you not be bored of just…being like a sleeping statue?"

Shadow opened his eyes and looked at him. "It's called focusing your mind Ridley. It helps me relax and regain my thoughts, keep them all in line."

"Well my species can only focus on that for like 2 hours before we have to do something else. I mean, it ain't something you should do all day long."

"Well it's not like we have anything better to do."

Ridley thought about this, and nodded. "Point taken, so Shadow?" Shadow sighed, but continued to listen. "Where did you come from? I mean it's pretty weird title, the Ultimate Lifeform, hell I could call myself that. But to me you look kinda like Sonic in a dark way."

"I'm called that because that's what I am. I was created by Gerald Robotnik 57 years ago on the space colony ARK. I take it you do know that abandoned colony, don't you?"

"I think so. Orbiting Mobius isn't it? Abandoned due to freak accidents."

"Humph, there was no freak accident, SCI got scared of what Gerald was doing, along with a fellow scientist called Yuri Gargarin. They swarmed the place and killed nearly everyone. I was able to flee down to the planet thanks to…a friend…who was killed during the attack."

"So…your name came from Gerald?"

" What I was came from him, the Ultimate Lifeform, my name was given to me by Yuri as Gerald couldn't think of anything for my friend to call me by. I was designed to master Chaos Energy, and be the fastest thing alive."

Ridley understood now. "Ah, I see now. So that's why you can do some damage with the energy. Shame without that shiny emerald you got there, it's limited."

"This 'Shiny Emerald' is a Chaos Emerald, filled with infinite energy, which very few beings are able to harness. I know of a few besides me that can. Sonic has a minor ability to, this Red Hedgehog called Chad used to be able to as well and-"

"Wait, you know Sonic and Chad? Well hot damn, guess what?"

Shadow looked at him, and waited. "…what?"

"We're going to rescue them too! At least you can have a reunion with them!"

"…Oh joy."

* * *

"Captains log, Stardate 46607.8. So far we have been able to pass through plenty of the Galactic Federation territory with little to no issues. Previously we had detected a Borg ship, but it appears it has return back to it's territory where it belongs. Instead we're moving towards where there may be a battle going on, as noted by a Galactic Federation warship Valaha earlier. Not just any battle, a possible battle with the Planet Eater."

The Enterprise was seen warping by, along with it, several other Starfleet vessels. Inside, on the Bridge, sitting at his Chair, was Jean-Luc Picard. He continued his log. "I have already prepared the crew for what awaits us, although to be honest, we cannot be certain of what we will come up against, and what power it has…end log."

Then, a series of beeps were heard from Worf's station behind the where the captain was sitting. "Sir, we're detecting a distress call, from a Galactic Federation ship."

Picard stood up, along with Riker. "Source?"

Worf pressed a few buttons on his controls. "It seems to be coming from sector 33.713."

Riker looked at Picard, concerned a little. "That's where we're heading right now."

"Worf, patch it through." Picard said, looking away from him now, and just listening.

"Aye sir."

There was silence…then a scrambling sound, as if the transmission was having a hard time, before a male human voice was heard, just. " Unable to escape, we are in need of assistance! Please send help!"

Picard looked at Worf quickly. "Open the channel."

Worf nodded, and pressed a few buttons. "Chanel open sir."

"Galactic Federation vessel, this is the Starfleet vessel USS Enterprise, we are en-route to your location, what's your status?"

"Enterprise, we're being-" there was interference. "-our engines are not responding! We've sustained severe damage, and nearly all of the fleet is wiped out, we were going to retreat and regroup-" more interference, then the transmission cut off. Picard looked over to Worf once again, who shook his head.

"We've lost contact sir. Unable to re-establish."

Picard turned towards the main screen of the bridge. "Data, contact all vessels to increase to warp 8. Can you scan the sector now?"

"Aye sir. I have detected at least 38 Galactic Federation attack warships. I will scan again once we get close."

It only took them an hour at this pace, but once they got close, Data begun a scan. "Sir, I have detected the Planet Unicron. It is a few sectors away from our current destination."

Riker spoke up. "Any sign of that fleet of the Galactic Federation?"

"I am picking up no sign of a fleet. There are a few vessels though, no power to them…"

Picard looked at him. "That's it? What happened to the rest?"

"Unknown sir. We are about to arrive."

Picard went silent. And soon, they all arrived in the sector…to be greeted by the few remaining GF warships, torn into fragments, drifting there…

Picard stood up, looking at the screen, walking over near it. "…Lifesigns?"

Data pressed a few buttons on his control panel, but just shook his head. Riker seemed to realize something and stood up, walking over to where Picard was. "Sir, there was suppose to be a M-Class planet in this sector according to the Valaha…"

Picard nodded, remembering. "…Data?"

Data typed something in, then just looked at the screen. "No planets of that type in this sector sir. If there was, it is gone."

Picard looked at Riker, concerned. "Perhaps, this, Planet Eater, does truly go by his name…"

Data checked his control panel quickly, as a worrying beeping sound was heard. "Sir, we're detecting several Battle ships entering the Sector. They are not Galactic Federation."

They soon saw the ships come into view…Imperial Star Destroyers, along with two massive Freighters, the Star Destroyers bearing the mark of the Galactic Empire, while the Freighters carried the mark of the Rebel Alliance. Unlike the other two human empires, this one had the biggest ships around, they had double the size of the GF warships, and simply dwarfed even the Galaxy class.

Picard quickly turned to Worf. "Open hailing frequencies."

Once they were open "This is Captain Jean Luc Picard of the USS Enterprise. We are part of the United Federation of Planets, and wish to bring you no harm."

There was silence…then on the main viewer screen, was Darth Vader, standing on the bridge of one of the Star Destroyers, his appearance, and his breathing sounds, made Picard feel like this one wasn't a friendly fellow.

Riker looked surprised at Darth Vader, then spoke to Picard. "Not really a looker, is he?"

Darth Vader soon spoke. "We, are the Galactic Empire and Rebel Alliance, and I, am Darth Vader, Right hand man to the Emperor. We have come under the truce between us and the Galactic Federation in order to deal with the being known as Unicron."

Picard smiled, relieved a little. "The Galactic Empire? Our second door down neighbours then. This is the first time we've ever made direct contact. We're here for the same reasons, to handle Unicron. There was a battle here, which was being led by the Galactic Federation…unfortunately as you can see, it was over before either of us arrived."

A new voice was heard on Darth Vader's end. " A planet has been lost as well, I sense in the force." then, slowly floating up to show himself, was none other then Yoda.

Picard was just as surprised with the creature as he was with Vader. "Yes, well we have confirmed that a planet was present here, before we arrived…perhaps we can transport you over to the Enterprise and we can discuss what's going on?"

Yoda looked at Darth Vader, and nodded at him, as Vader looked to Picard. "Agreed." then the communication was disconnected.

"Not the best time to get to know our distant neighbours, is it?" Riker quipped.

"No number one, but when things like this happen, you can never know who you'll meet. I want all my secondary staff in the meeting room once they're ready. For now, I'll go down and greet them." He gave Riker a smile, then left the Bridge.

* * *

The prison ship was still heading to Gaia VII. It's occupants, still in their cells, awaiting to arrive. Inside the cells, there were four beds, and a small door connected to the cell which led to the single toilet. The other door connected led to the corridor and to the rest of the ship. On the side walls, were very small holes, which were barred, allowing inmates to talk with their fellow inmates in the other cells next to them. There was an embedded TV in one corner of the ceiling, which was always turned off at 18:00 and switched on at 8:00.

In one cell right now, was Chad, sitting on his bed, looking depressed, with Anna, who was talking to Zhang He that was with them, and finally their 4th roommate was Quickman. In the Cell to their right, was Forte, Cao Cao, Jak and Daxter, who classed as a prisoner, no matter what his height was. To their left, was Roll, Maylu, Xiahou Dun and Knuckles.

Quickman was seen watching the TV, which was showing an F-Zero grand prix going on at Mute City right now. 30 racers, hyper fast cars, and alot of deaths, as feared with 7 of the racers, who had already been knocked out of it. The time was 15:30, according to the TV right now.

Chad soon just laid down on his bed, looking at the ceiling, as he was overhearing Zhang He and Anna.

"…and I tell you Anna, being in here is NOT doing my makeup any good! I mean, the sooner we get to the planet the better! Not only have they taken my beautiful claws away, but my accessories too! Keaton did say I was allowed to bring some, I'm sure of it!"

"Well Zhang He, perhaps he told you the opposite and you were just hoping…but I agree with you with the hopes we get to Gaia VII soon, then Dr Light and Dr Wily can explain to the High Ministers, along with Yuan Shao, that Darkmega hasn't caused us any problems."

Chad gave a short laugh, before he rolled over and was facing the wall, with his eyes shut. Anna looked at him with an eyebrow raised for a moment, before Zhang He took her attention. "I thought they would rather try and cover up the fact we even have that…disgusting fellow. I mean he has done some harm to their empire, and you know what their like."

Anna sighed. "Yeah, I do…cause any trouble, they'll run you down and hang you up before you know-"

"**Welcome, Chad Malyan…**"

Chad shot his eyes open…and realized he wasn't on the ship anymore. He was drifting in space, upright, and looking right at the terror that Darkmega spoke of. He was right between the two massive horns, looking at it's mouth, which glowed white, covering him in the light as it spoke. He had to squint his eyes in order to avoid being blinded.

"U…Unicron…"

"**I am communicating with you, through telepathy, Chad Malyan. To those around you, you have fallen into a deep sleep. Ever since I have brought Richard to me, I sensed your presence. A Malyan…long since I have heard that name…**"

Chad just tried to glare at Unicron. " What the hell do you mean by that?"

" **Clearly, you are not one to read your history. You appear before Heaven's Judgement, and yet you do not understand what your legacy is.**"

"What Legacy?! Why the hell am I such an interest to you?!"

There was silence, and as Chad heard, a growling sound echoed within Unicron, before he spoke again. "**Because someone, many a millennia ago, battled me, and stopped me….once…but after, he worked for me, helped me return to a regenerative state. You are his descendent, and I have hopes that you will assist me, as he had done so before you.**"

Chad couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Bullshit! The fuck would I want to help you!? You're a nutcase thinking he'll destroy everything!"

There was a faint chuckle coming from Unicron at that statement. "**You do not believe my power? Foolish boy."**

"Look Unicron, what the hell do you want?!"

"**You wish to know then? Excellent. In order to guarantee my success, Chad Malyan, I require you to collect me three items, which could easily stand in my way should they be…used. An essence of darkness, the Black Materia. An essence of light, the Holy Materia. And of course, the element of energy itself, the Matrix of leadership, carried by the Transformers…destroy them, guarantee my return will not be stopped.**"

Chad looked at him, still just holding a glare. "And you expect me to just do out and do that!? You're an idiot!"

"**Oh am I? I can see inside you, boy. I can see what you want, what you are.**"

Chad clenched his fists. " All I want is to live in peace Unicron!"

"**So do I, Chad Malyan, but the only way to find true peace, is removing all threats to it, from humanity itself bar the chosen few, to the creatures that live by them.**"

"You're sick."

"**I see you do not understand…perhaps granting you the power your ancestor once proudly used, will awaken you to the truth…the blade of darkness, is not enough…**"

"Whatever it is, I would never use it!"

"**Why? Why resist it boy? It will grant you power greater then you've felt before, new strength, the power of a true warrior.**"

"I DON'T CARE! I just want to live in peace!"

Unicron went silent, then laughed, loudly, annoying the hell out of Chad. "What's so funny!?"

"**It is not like you have a choice in the matter. While we speak, I have used my power to transfer a power inside of you, which you have no control over. The pure element in which those things you call 'Dark Chips', are created from.**"

Chad just stared at him in horror. "You…you did what!?"

Slowly, the white light turned dark purple, as Unicron laughed again. "**Chad. It is time for you to follow his footsteps. It is time, to awaken your inner dark power. I will open the door for you, and let you experience the darkness in it's wonderful, glorious form!**"

Chad tried to move himself, but his body was stiff. It felt like, something was burning on his skin, like something was latching onto him. "Never! I'll refuse it!"

"**It is not like you have much of a choice in this matter. It has already begun to infest your body, your mind. You'll soon wake up, and see things differently then before.**"

Chad felt it getting into his skin, his head, oh god did that hurt so much right now, something was pushing itself inside…something that was making him feel tired, weak at first…his thoughts were becoming deluded, he couldn't focus on Unicron anymore, then, a new power, a dark power, was awaking inside of him, hatred, anger, it was growing, and fast. "No…no no no! I don't want to! I don't want to be like this! LEAVE ME ALONE!"

"**Now go…see what are really are…like him… Destroy the Matrix, the Materia…**"

Soon Unicron begun to fade away, as Chad saw a black liquid like substance begin to cover his body, from the feet up. He tried to struggle, tried to get away from it, as it reached his waist, but he couldn't, it was impossible, he felt so much pain now, as he looked ahead, Unicron vanishing from view, as Chad was finally covered completely in the Black substance.

"F-FREEZE!"

"H…Holy Shit…"

"Chad! Please stop it! PLEASE!"

Chad suddenly saw a flash of light, and then, he found himself, holding a GF trooper by his neck, against a steel wall of a corridor…his crushed neck no less, blood splashed inside his visor. Chad quickly dropped him in shock. He looked around, his mind clearing quickly. He was in his mobian form, but was a dark gold colour as he could see, and a purple aura was around him.

He was standing in the centre of a corridor, one of the prison sections, he noticed the door to his cell with the others, was blasting apart, and on the floor were, several GF troopers, with either holes through their torsos, or head decapitated by his own hands. Anna was seen near him, on the floor, her voice is what he heard, asking him to stop, she had a massive mark on her right cheek, which indicated he hit her, or must of. Zhang He was also near him, along with Quickman. Down the end of the corridor, were several more GF troopers, aiming their rifles at Chad, some of them shaking a little. There was an alarm going off, warning of a breakout in this corridor.

He felt worried for Anna, had he, Really done that? His minds clear crisp focus soon begun to fade, as he felt…anger, so much anger, fill him, hatred, it was making him shake. His little worry of Anna was disappearing, to him, she was just a nuisance right now, a hindrance, like her friends with her. He turned his focus to the GF troopers before him. His cackled evilly. "Heheheh, so you think you can stop me? Stupid fools, I'll make you regret coming down here!"

He begun to spin on the ground, and shot towards them, their bullets flew to him, only to be rebounded by the aura itself. As he got close, he jumped out of the spinning state, into the air, looking at them all, and shouted "CHAOS BLAST!" that segment of the corridor, was filled with a blinding red light, as the screams of the GF troopers was heard…and once the light faded, the GF troopers were, to say in the very least, as Chad landed, in several pieces, in several places all at once. Chad panted a little, but as he looked at the deaths he caused, that felt GOOD.

"Oh yeah! that's how you kill without any problems!" Then, he heard something come at him move behind, and quickly moved next to the wall, seeing a Quick Boomerang fly past…he turned and saw Quickman, and Zhang He, looking at him, as Anna was now seen sitting up against the wall near their cell, looking at Chad in fear.

"Chad, you have to stop this! This will only give them a good reason to keep us all in prison for good!" Quickman shouted.

Chad chuckled, looking down at the floor, then at his Net Navi. "I thought you would enjoy the freedom from the cell…instead you attack me to try, poorly I might add, to stop me. Pity that it seems I might have to kill you now." he got into a stance, motioning Quickman and Zhang He to come at him. "I'll give you both 30 seconds tops to try. Fail, and I kill."

Both Quickman and Zhang He were a little reluctant, but then, they charged towards him, Quickman being much faster and getting right up close to Chad, when his view of things died off. Chad was confused, it felt like everything was Black…then…Zuo Ci, appeared before him, walking out of the darkness almost, walking towards him. Chad didn't resist, just confused at what was going on. The old man stopped right in front of him.

"You…you're…that old man from Wu Zhang Plains…What…where, am I?" Chad asked.

Zuo Ci looked right into his eyes, then shook his head slowly. "The darkness, has covered you, yet I know, you can still find the light. Look into yourself Chad, realize that what you are now, is not what you were meant to be. I will aid you, this time, to break away, but if this were to happen again, you must fight your own battle."

Zuo Ci reached out, but Chad quickly stepped back. "Hold on a moment, how did you know what's been going on? How did you get here?"

"Do not be afraid, Chad. I am a Deity, a being that can see many things, and feel what goes on in this Universe. Here, is a question that I cannot truly answer, for here is a place within your mind, infected by the darkness."

Chad looked at him oddly, but accepted that explanation. "Why do you help me? Am I important or something?"

Zuo Ci nodded. "Yes, you are Chad."

"…To stop Unicron, right?"

Zuo Ci stood there silent for a moment, then nodded. "For now, yes, that is what you are to do."

"Then, then what can I do to stop him?! His a planet eater! His size isn't something I feel comfy about taking on!"

"Chad, what you must do, was hinted by Unicron…the three items. One of them is with one of your allies, two of them, are on Gaia VII…find them, and use them to stop Unicron."

Chad sighed in annoyance. "That's all good and all, but I'm in a tight jam right now. Arrested remember?"

Zuo Ci took a step towards him, and placed his hand on Chad's shoulder. "Your chance on that planet will come…now close your eyes."

Chad looked at him with suspicions, but done as he was asked, and felt a cold feeling rush over his body, and the next moment, he was back in the corridor, standing there, as Quickman and Zhang He were both on the ground, knocked out cold, and he was charging Chaos Energy in his hands, which quickly disappeared, his dark golden fur changing back to red, and the purple aura vanishing.

He stumbled, a little fazed out by the sudden drop of power, but he soon recovered, quickly worrying about Quickman and Zhang He checked them. Thankfully he had only done little harm to them. He then saw Anna, and went over to her, as she was still sitting there, looking terrified at him, and pushing herself up against the wall as he got close. "Anna, Anna…it's me, I'm myself again, it's alright."

He reached out, and gently touched her on the shoulder, she just stopped, looked at him…and quickly hugged him, certainly relieved he was alright now, as he hugged her back. "I'm sorry Anna, I'm sorry for all this right now…something just, happened earlier…" Then, he heard more GF troopers arrive, telling him to freeze, along with Anna. He did so this time, putting his hands up to show he was surrendering.

* * *

On the Enterprise, the meeting had begun, between the captain of the Enterprise, the flagship of the United Federation of Planets, Jean-Luc Picard, with his officers Data, Georgi La-forge, William Riker, Deanna Troi, Worf and Beverly Crusher, and Darth Vader, head of the Star Destroyer Destive, with him, was Yoda, two of his officers called Titus Klev and Marl Semtin, and finally Admiral Ackbar, who was on one of the two Rebel alliance vessels.

They all sat down once Picard shook hands with both Darth Vader and Ackbar. Picard leaned back in his chair a little. "Well, it seems that the Galactic Federation have decided to make a truce with both of our parties after such a long standoff, and we all know why, don't we?"

"This major threat of Unicron. We got word from Master Yoda that he felt a major disturbance in the force, and soon Galactic Empire scouting parties confirmed that the Planet Eater was present." Ackbar said.

Riker looked at him and Darth Vader. "Unicron was spotted in our sector before coming over to the Galactic Federation. We think his aim is for the capital Planet itself. Gaia VII."

"We have concluded that as well, but as we headed towards it, we picked up a distress signal from this area." Darth Vader responded.

Picard nodded. "Like we did. Unfortunately, we both seem to have arrived too late to help, and Unicron has begun moving again. He also had allies called the Borg, but we detected none all the way here. There was one prior to the distress signal, but it seemed to be returning to their territory. If Unicron has abandoned them, it's one less problem right now."

"Our concern right now then, is to protect Gaia VII from him." Darth Vader, with Picard nodding.

"That's correct, but I doubt us alone will be enough to handle Unicron. We need to call as much back up as we possibly can to repel him. Mister Data, have the scans on Unicron showed how long it will take for him to arrive at Gaia VII?"

Data stood up. "It would seem his pace indicates a slow down in his movements. It is possible that processing a planet, which we believe he has consumed, requires a large amount of energy. We have if he keeps to this speed, 4 days untill his arrival at Gaia VII."

Picard smiled a little. "Well that gives us plenty of time to inform our sides to bring in a larger fleet then and move round Gaia VII to protect it from harm."

Vader nodded. "Agreed. Once I return to my ship, I will contact the Emperor personally for more ships to arrive and assist. Ackbar, I expect you will contact the Rebel Alliance to do the same."

"Of course I will." Ackbar replied.

"I'll contact Starfleet and see what numbers we can get. Perhaps we could also call the Klingons to help, maybe even the Romulans and the Cardassians…if we're lucky and they understand the danger we're up against." Picard said.

Yoda sat there, nodding slowly, then looking at Picard. "Joint alliance, we must hold with the Galactic Federation, if we are all to survive. Work together, and victory shall be gained. Work apart, and defeat will occur without fail."

* * *

It was now about 18:15 on Gaia VII. In the towering building of Shinra HQ, Dr Robotnik was seen checking through files and looking at the computer on Keaton's desk, sitting there in the comfy chair Keaton had to himself, when Rufus walked in, making Dr Robotnik quickly stand up, thinking it was someone else, then sitting down again. "Oh, it's you Rufus. I heard you got a call from the High Ministers themselves, what was it about?"

Rufus walked over, and sat on the side of the desk. "…Keaton is now M.I.A, possibly K.I.A. All contact with his ship has been lost since the report that he had attempted to attack Unicron."

Dr Robotnik looked shocked. "…You mean…but then who-"

Rufus quickly interrupted. "Due to our closeness to the commander, and without Grievous, who was a possible candidate, as Grand Cross, I've been placed as temporary Grand Commander until they can confirm Keaton Al'Keriff is dead and buried."

Dr Robotnik went quiet…then leaned back and grinned. "Excellent. This is just what we needed Rufus! As long as Keaton is actually dead, you have the window of opp-"

"Robotnik?"

Robotnik stopped talking. "…?"

"You're in my seat."

Dr Robotnik very quickly moved, as Rufus stood up, walked over to the chair, and calmly sat down in it…this, was more like it. "S-Sorry Rufus!"

Rufus simply looked at the computer, ignoring Robotnik for the moment. "…So the United Federation of Planets and the Galactic Empire and their friends are coming towards this planet? Excellent. Ivo, I want you to contact Master Chief. Tell him, Snake and Colonel, I am in command, and I order that the prison ship carrying those 'Heroes' come to Gaia VII at once. I believe our two families of scientists on that ship can help us with Unicron…if we strike a deal."

Dr Robotnik nodded quickly, and walked off. Rufus sat back in the chair. Sure, he was temporary for now, but he was fine with that, afterall…

…soon he'll make himself, Emperor.

* * *

Captain David Hanson, of the GF Prison ship Ganioda, Glared down at the Three before him in his seat. " Grand Commander Rufus!? His as much Grand Commander as I am a Protoss!"

Master Chief was frowning underneath his helmet. Around them, the captains officers look at them weirdly. "We can have your rank removed if you don't comply with orders captain."

David scoffed at them. "I think not. If your trying to just pull my leg, it's not funny, if not, I'll have all of you arrested and toss you all in the cells along with those punks!"

Snake sighed in annoyance. "We don't have time for this. Since this is a direct order from the Grand Commander, I'll personally give you one more chance. Turn this ship around to Gaia VII, and it's only an hours flight from here I might add, or get retired."

David stood up, shouting. "How dare you! I'll make sure you-"

One shot, one kill. Snake had pulled out an energy pistol with a silencer on the end, and fired it, square in the Captain's forehead. The Captain just fell back and slumped into his chair, blood flowing out of the hole, eyes rolled back.

"Retired it is then."

Master Chief looked at him in slight shock. It was always known people who joined 666 needed to understand violence is a option, not a last resort, and it seemed Snake learnt well. The officers around them just went silent from pure horror.

Master Chief then looked at the officers. "People, this is an order from Rufus Shinra, the replacement of Keaton Al'Keriff. You will do as we have been ordered. Plot the route to Gaia VII!"

The officers were silent…then just turned to their computers, making sure they did as they were told, lest they risk ending up like the captain.

Down in the cells, they had put a force field at where the door once was to Chad, Anna, Zhang He and Quickmans cell. Chad was sitting on his Bed, silent, as were Zhang He and Quickman.

Anna looked at him, still a little scared. "So…you said that you saw…Unicron? And he put something inside of you, to make you go crazy?"

Chad slowly nodded. "Yeah…Anna, I am really sorry, you know that right? I didn't have any control over it."

"…And, it's because he knew of an Ancestor to you?"

Chad nodded again. "That's what he said…"

Anna went quiet. Then Quickman spoke up. "Does that sorta make you his servant?"

"Hey whoa whoa, I'm not his lackey. I'm not under his control. It's been stopped by a…friend, for now. I dunno, if it's permanent I'll admit, but nothing will happen right now. I'm okay, I'm normal, whatever normal is."

Anna looked into his eyes, and smiled a little, to show she sorta believed him, but there was a little doubt. "I know Chad, it's just shook me up, that's all."

Chad understood. It shook him up too. Although after the next two hours, he was even more shook up.

The first thing was the sudden fact they had entered orbit of a planet, and landed, which was three days earlier then expected. Then, they had got off the vessel, in their handcuffs, escorted by the GF troopers. Into as Chad knew it as, Junon Harbour. He saw Yuan Shao come off the ship, just as surprised as anyone. Then they had marched down a few streets, with Master Chief, Snake and Colonel, only to be halted by none other then Rufus Shinra, who had Dr Robotnik with him, and several GF troopers of his own.

He ordered their handcuffs to be undone. Which was quickly handled. Dr Light and Dr Wily had moved in front of everyone with Yuan Shao, as Master Chief, Snake and Colonel had motioned the GF troopers of the prison ship to return to it and depart at once for the nearest starbase, then went over and stood with Rufus.

"What's going on here? Where's Keaton?" Dr Light asked.

Rufus smiled in a way that didn't make you feel welcomed. "Keaton is missing, and so as his replacement, I have corrected this little error of his. Our sincerest apologies, Dr Thomas Light and Dr Albert Wily."

Yuan Shao looked surprised. "They made you his replacement for now then? Well at least it is someone who has common sense! I'm glad all this has been sorted!"

Rufus bowed to him. "Of course Minister Yuan Shao. To arrest allies of the High Ministers is simply the actions of a madman. I would like to send you all home of course, but right now, I would like for you all to stay here, under my personnel care…and of course, to help me."

Dr Wily raised an eyebrow. "Help you? How?"

"To deal with Unicron, with great minds like you here, we might be able to come up with something."

Dr Wily looked at Thomas, who shrugged, quite happy with the idea. "Well I don't see why not Albert. Alright then Rufus, we'll help you since you helped us with this trouble."

Chad was watching at the back, with Anna. He could just see Rufus, and something about his appearance alone didn't rub well with Chad. Once they were being escorted to all of the available rooms and cargo holds for the transformers, Rufus stopped Dr Light, Yuan Shao and Wily from following, which made Chad stop nearby, which in turn made Roll stop as she saw him, and walked over to him, noticing he was watching Rufus, Light, Wily and Yuan Shao.

Rufus cracked a genuine smile, as Dr Robotnik, Snake, Colonel and Master Chief stood there, quiet.. "My, My, 12 years on. It's been a long time Wily. It's shame you only taught robotics for a few years before leaving it after the incident."

Wily looked confused. "…Excuse me?"

"You must remember me. I was the one who always stayed near the front of the class, always listening, and always writing down notes, so much so, you once scolded me for putting too much down."

Wily looked at him closely, as even Light was slightly confused. "This man was a student of yours Wily?"

"Years ago Thomas, when I has begun reforming from the rebellions…my god! Ru?!" Dr Wily exclaimed, finally recalling the person from his teaching days. Rufus Shinra, Little Ru, as he was nicknamed by Albert Wily. He was an isolated soul back in those days at the age of 15. He was quite short at the time, but he was a head above the rest in learning about science and robotics.

Wily remembered all too well that he heard about Ru's hopes to take over his fathers business, and maybe more then that. His demand to learn soon changed by the age of 17, and he was very…quiet. Of course Wily heard about Rufus's father 4 years ago, and guessed it was Keaton's doing, as magically Keaton was granted a seat in Midgar.

Rufus reached out and shook Dr Wily's hand. "I'm glad you're here. I really could do with your guidance on Unicron. There must be a way to stop him."

Dr Wily smiled, and as he was talking to Rufus, Roll put her hand on Chad's shoulder, making him stop listening in. "Chad? Why don't we go indoors and leave them to it?"

He gave her smile, and nodded. They soon head inside..

* * *

Chad was sure he was asleep…but it felt like he was awake. He was walking around…somewhere…a lake? In a forest? And then, he found himself in a giant crater, green light emitting from it…he couldn't understand what was going on.

Then he saw Optimas Prime, and saw his chest opening, showing the Matrix of Leadership, glowing brightly…then he saw Unicron, and heard his laughter. Before he suddenly woke up, sitting upright.

He was in one of the small living quarters in Junon harbour. Bland, small, only had a bed, a machine where you tossed your clothes in, and it washed and dried them, a sonic shower, designed to just remove the dirt off you in seconds, and make you feel like your high for about 20 of those seconds, a toilet, and a small little TV hanging off the ceiling, but it was better then the Cell has he didn't have to worry now about Zhang He possibly sneaking up on him. He got himself up, put his clothes in the machine, and gave himself a sonic shower. Soon he was dressed, and saw the time on the news. It was 8:00am precisely. He then decided to take notice of the news…and was shocked.

It had been the report about the destruction of the planet Hyrulian, and the reports of the battle having being led by Keaton, who is now officially seen as KIA. A goner. According to the reports, a burial in his honour will be organised once the threat of the Planet Eater, as it was named on the news, was dealt with. Then they said about the United Federation of Planets and the Galactic Empire truce, saying it's one step closer to peace in the universe.

Chad just muttered "So Keaton did get fucked over…good riddance…"

He soon opened the door out of his living Quarters…and was met face to face with Darkmega…he didn't looked surprised, and just glared. "…Alright, explain to me in 30 seconds how the fuck you got here and why the hell are you outside my door?"

Darkmega grinned. "Oh we got here last night actually. The ships we stole led us here, nearly got arrested, then this Rufus guy with the two good doctors confirmed we're on their side and let us stay. Well Ridley and the others anyway, I was told to go straight to you and you have to watch over me. So…I've been standing here since…oh…4 in the morning."

Chad was still glaring, then slammed the door on Darkmega.

"Ah come on Chad! Doctors orders!"

From behind the door. "FUCK the doctors!"

Darkmega was still grinning. "Chaaad, you're stuck with me and you know it. Why not just accept it?" There was no answer. "Ya know, we could be good pals. Why don't we go out somewhere on this planet for a little bit hm? Get to know each other better."

Chad leaned on the door, sighing in annoyance…then it hit him…the two items on this planet…he needs to get them, thanks to Darkmega, he just remembered. He felt his stomach grumble about food first, but that could come later. His first thought about how would know more then anyone about this planet, or been on an adventure to know it's secrets…he clicked his fingers. Cloud Strife and his group!

He opened the door, glaring at Darkmega for a moment, then pushed past him, looking for a trooper or a guard that might know where the nearest teleported facility was. He remembered that Cloud and co had left this planet years back, about 5 now, and took up residence at a planet called Traverse Town. As he walked down the corridors, he heard Darkmega catch up with him. "Hey! Don't just ignore me! I'm right here you know!"

Chad did just ignore him, and as he rounded a corner, he bumped right into Anna and Zhang He, knocking himself back a little, and knocking poor Anna to the floor. "Oh Anna! Jeez, sorry sorry!" he quickly said, helping her up.

Anna smiled a him a little…that was until she saw Darkmega. "…Oh, taking Darkmega somewhere Chad?"

Chad shook his head. "No actually, his just following like a lost puppy. I'm actually looking for someone to direct me to a teleporting area or place. I need to get to Traverse Town to find Cloud, Tifa and company."

Anna looked surprised a little, then smiled. "Well you won't mind if I come along do you? I would like to say hi to Tifa again after two years…Zhang He will come as well."

Chad looked a little uneasy at Zhang He, but knew that wasn't a choice she gave him. "Yeah, that's cool with me Anna. Come on then, lets go and find someone." All three started to walk off, with Darkmega still following.

He was glaring at their backs. Assholes, how dare they treat him like he wasn't there…wait, was he getting annoyed at them for not paying him attention? It shouldn't matter, they'll be dead in time, their actions now will only make things worse for them when he gets his chance.

Soon, They found a lift, and got on it, heading to the upper floors of Junon Harbour, Darkmega still following suit. Chad chose the highest level it was allowed to go, and soon he found himself in an office, where Rufus, Dr Light, Dr Robotnik and Dr Wily were, standing up in the middle of the room, discussing something. There was two guards at the elevator doors when it opened, and Chad, Anna, Zhang he and Darkmega found the guards pointing their guns at them. Dr Light noticed and quickly said "It's alright, they're with us."

The guards lowered their weapons, and the four were able to walk into the office. It was rather bland, besides the massive windows at the back, showing the sea. It had paintings of certain places of this world, and a red metal desk, with a computer on it, near the windows. Dr Light and Rufus walked over to Chad and the others, while Wily and Robotnik were talking still.

Dr Light smiled at them. "Good morning you four. Is there a problem?"

Chad wanted to say about Darkmega, but decided to leave that alone, as the last argument about him got nowhere. "Doc, does this place have a way to teleport people around? Like the Hero Base? I need to get to the planet Traverse Town."

Dr Light shrugged, and looked at Rufus, to replied to the question. "Indeed it does, as the High Ministers often come here. I will gladly let you use it if you must. Just simply communicate to the Thomas Light when you want to go and return, and I will personally inform the facility in Midgar tower to begin to teleportation sequence."

Chad looked at him. Something about Rufus still didn't fit with him, and he just nodded in thanks, while Anna smiled and personally thanked him. "Thank you so much Mister Rufus."

Rufus gave her a pleasant smile. "Just Rufus for you, miss…?"

"Anna. Anna Hael."

"Ah, a pleasure to meet a cute lady such as yourself miss Hael."

Anna blushed a little. "Oh, just Anna will do."

Chad felt a brief surge of jealousy. But like the Darkmega issue, allowed it to slide. "Anyway Rufus, we should go as soon as, if that's okay?"

Rufus nodded. "That's fine." he got on his com-link, and begun to talk to someone. Chad then remembered something, and quickly looked at Dr Light. "Doc, Darkmega doesn't have to come right? Because I can't deal with him right now."

Darkmega smiled slyly. "Of course I'm going with you."

"…Doc, if you tell me his gotta go-"

Dr Light sighed. "His gotta go with you Chad."

"Oh Fucking hell!"


	13. Unicron: Holy Materia

Traverse Town.

One of the many worlds that were under the Galactic Federation Coalition Treaty. This pretty much meant it was under the control of a different group, but they hide with the GF instead of being alone. As such, this planet was under the control of King Mickey.

It was simply, one massive town. The Planet wasn't as large as many others, but it was stable enough to form a colony of a sort. It's perfect for those who just want a relaxing time away from all kinds of trouble in the Universe.

The entrance to the actual town led to a spaceport on the planet, and near that entrance, was a bar called 7th Heaven. Created after the previous 7th Heaven bar back on Gaia VII, which was crushed 5 years ago during an incident on the planet. Long since that, the spot where the bar was has been restored, but the people that lived there once had no desire to return.

It was owned by one Tifa Lockhart. Once, her, Cloud and her friend Barret visited the Hero base on Earth X quite often to see some of the friends they made there, but ever since the Incident of Darkmega, for the two years, they haven't kept in contact with them, believing them all to have either been killed or taken to places unknown.

Now they would find out they're pretty much alive and well, as Chad, Anna, Zhang He and, much to Chad's anger, Darkmega, appeared just inside the entrance to Traverse Town via teleport.

The town looked unique. It had old looking buildings, but some of them had neon light signs, likes 'Cid's Accessory store." in light green lighting. It was always a starry sky, never any sun, but to these people, who lived here, it didn't matter. Night and Day was only based by the clocks to them.

Chad slowly looked around, noticing the calm, relaxed atmosphere here. It was nice to have. The lack of quarries and trouble is something that always attracted him to worlds like this, especially for his later life plans of retiring to somewhere well out of the way.

He soon led them to the entrance to the 7th heaven bar and opened the door. Inside, there was several wooden round tables with chairs, all with candles on them, at the back of the place, was the bar itself, complete with all kinds of drinks on the shelves behind it. There, serving the customers, or would be if she wasn't talking to a couple of people, was Tifa Lockhart.

The person she was speaking to, was none other then the spiky blonde haired swordsman Cloud, and the big coloured man with a gun arm, Barret. The place was pretty empty bar a few customers right now. Chad ignored them and went up to Cloud and the others, along with Anna and Zhang He.

Darkmega had noticed one looking at him, as he begun to walk up with the others. The man looking at them was at a table by himself. He was wearing a large army patterned jacket, yellow and brown, a grey top, had golden dog tags, and had medium black hair which was spiky at the tips. His eyes were a dark brown colour, and he has a slightly unshaven face. He appeared to be in his 30's, just staring at Darkmega, holding onto a small glass of whisky or something. Darkmega quickly looked away from him and focused on where Chad and the others were.

As Chad got up to the bar, he sat down, while Zhang He, Anna and Darkmega stood. Barret, Cloud and Tifa were still busy talking, not noticing at first, Until after a little while, as Tifa notices Zhang He and Anna, and looks surprised. "Zhang He? Anna Hael?"

Barret and Cloud look over to them, and seem just as surprised. "Well shit! After all this time we thought all you punks at that base were dead! How ya both been? And who've you got with you?" Barret said.

Anna smiled and motioned at Chad, who seemed a little down now, noticing Cloud and Tifa didn't seem to recognise him, yet he remembered clearly fighting them in the base training rooms before. "Oh this is Chad Malyan, you guys remember him right?"

Cloud looked at Chad carefully, then nods. "Just about. The kid who managed to take out the likes of Xiahou Dun right?"

Anna nodded. "Yup. And this is…" She motioned to Darkmega. "…Darkmega."

Barret looked at him carefully, then turned to Anna. "Darkmega, as in, Dark Megaman?…Get the fuck outta here. I thought he was the enemy?"

"Well he WAS, but I kicked his ass and the docs, being their crazy selves, fixed him up from near death and made me be his baby sitter." Chad said, as he give a little glare to Darkmega.

Tifa was genuinely surprised. "Oh. Well, is he okay now then?"

Chad thought about it for a moment, then replied. "His okay and safe enough to not shoot us in the back if that's what you mean. Otherwise I still don't trust him whatsoever."

"So what brings you here to our bar then? A drink?"

Chad shook his head. "Nah Tifa, it's actually about Gaia VII. Listen, you've heard about the Planet Eater right? Unicron? Had to have been on the news."

Cloud nodded. "Yes, we've heard about it."

"Well what it is, is that I need to find certain items that your world, that is, your homeworld Gaia VII has. Two things. One is called Holy Materia, the other is called Black Materia. We need them. I think they might help."

Cloud, Tifa and Barret went silent, looking at each other. This didn't look too good. Then Tifa looked at Chad. "I'm not sure how they'll help you Chad. Are you sure they're the items you're looking for?"

"Certain."

Again, Silence…

Then, Cloud spoke up, not looking at Chad and co, but looking at his green coloured drink before him. "One of them is deep in an ancient place on that Planet, and the other…might be where, he, last was…"

"He?" Anna said.

"…Sephiroth."

Chad gulped a little at the mention of that name. it was a much known name in the universe. The ultimate swordsman, the greatest that existed. Feared for his power and strength. Before his actions against his world, he was asked by the military, the GF, to work for them, even by the infamous unit of 666, but he turned them all down for his own, divine, madness…

Zhang He thought about that name in wonder. "Ah yes, the man who's hair was like that of a wondrous silver rose, his clothes the black as the darkest night."

"And a mother fucking royal asshole to boot, lemme tell ya." Barret added.

"Of course, his dead now." Cloud said. "We took him out ages ago. He tried to destroy our planet as you might have already heard about. His was last at the Northern Crater. that's where the Black Materia might be at. The Holy Materia, is at the Forgotten Capital of the race known as Cetra, who lived on that planet long, long ago before us."

This really had put Chad off the Black Materia. He just couldn't shake the bad feeling he got from the very mention of Sephiroth, dead or not. He decided in his head that the Holy Materia is the better starting point right now. "Well that's the one we'll go for first. Any idea where this Forgotten Capital is?"

Cloud finally looked at Chad for a moment, then got out of his seat. "Sure. I'll escort you there."

Barret was shocked by Cloud's response. "You sure about this? I mean, ya know, it ain't a place filled with happy memories."

"I know…I just need to visit someone, that's all. I haven't done it for a long while."

Tifa looked at him carefully, and nodded. She knew who he was talking about. "Alright, but promise me you'll be safe. All of you."

As the others continued talking a little more, Darkmega looked over to the man who had been looking at him, and noticed he still was…he had to admit, it was getting more and more unnerving.

* * *

The Forgotten Capital, a place that would easily be seen as alien to the rest of Gaia VII. It was strange, special. It has an energy around it that was unique. It existed as the place where the people known as Cetra lived, long ago. Now it is empty, dead, lost of all life.

The Cetra were a race of humans, who had came to live upon the planet with the aid of the Chozo. The legends stated that their old world was not inhabitable, and thus with the Chozo, they were brought here. They have, as in their culture, has long since become extinct. Their descendents still exist to this day on this planet, although they are classed as unique Cetra, as the original ones, as history on this world is known, were deeply spiritual.

It was at this place that one key element that saved this planet from Sephiroth's wrath occurred. The sacrifice, and prayer of one special girl, known as Aerith Gainsborough. After that, the place has become still again. No one enters it anymore. It had been left alone to fade along with time. Until five people arrived.

Once Chad had called Dr Light, within ten or so minutes, they had first arrived at Bone Village, that was nearby, and walked through the sleeping forest to get here. There was hardly any monsters blocking their path, and if any did, Cloud disposed of them before Chad and such could do anything.

Anna was certainly impressed with it once they arrived. "Wow…this is…just so unique…"

Chad turned to Cloud. "So the Holy Materia is here somewhere?"

Cloud nodded silently, and begun to lead the way. The others followed him. Chad noticed Cloud was being a little more serious then earlier, which he guessed was understandable, Cloud was here to see someone as he said, and by the sounds of it, that person is rather dead.

They got to a sea shell like building in almost the centre of the forgotten capital, with a wonderful blue lake outside it, with light just shimming through the branches of the trees around the place, shining down to the water. Cloud stopped dead in his tracks, then looked at the others. "Inside the building. There should be a stairway leading downwards in the centre of it. Down there is the Holy Materia. It's in the water."

"You're, you're not coming down with us?" Anna said.

Cloud looked at the lake. "I'll catch up."

Chad, Anna, Zhang He and Darkmega left him, and entered the building. It had a spiral pathway leading upwards, and in the centre, it had a hologram of, seaweed and an orange fish. Chad looked a little baffled. "…he meant THIS building, right?"

Anna nodded. "I think so…"

"…but I don't see any stairway down. There's a pathway up, but not down."

Darkmega sighed in annoyance. "Great, we have an idiot telling us where to go. Wonderful."

Chad glared at him for a moment, as Zhang He spoke up. "Perhaps Cloud knows of a secret button or device that will lead us to where he said? Or perhaps it is hidden by the fish?"

Anna thought about this possibility. She looked at the fish and seaweed and did notice a gap in the rails around it, big enough for a person to walk though to the centre of the hologram. She decided to take the chance, and walked on through…and found herself nearly falling down a few steps, as she didn't expect the sudden drop. Chad had quickly reacted and shoot towards her, almost tripping up himself, but was able to stop himself from falling forwards and caught Anna by her left arm. "Whoa Anna! You alright?"

She nodded at him, and regained her footing. "Yeah, I'm good, just tried what Zhang He thought up. Seemed he was right. There is a hidden stairway."

Chad smiled in relief, and for a moment, didn't let go of her. It was only when she looked at where he was holding her arm he quickly did so, looking a little sheepish and going red a tad. "Right then, lets go downwards then and get this Materia. Come on Zhang He, Darkmega."

Soon, they had begun taking the shining, crystal white steps down into the depths of the building…around them, it seemed like they were in the depths of the sea, with shining light beaming through the water. The stairway led them to a massive platform, with several medieval like towers, an altar with several smaller platforms leading to it, and all surrounded by clear through water and crystal pillars…it was beautiful, to say the least. Zhang He and Anna seemed to enjoy it anyway. Darkmega looked like he was frowning about all this still, and Chad was busy looking at the water around the platform and the smaller ones, in hopes of seeing the Holy Materia shining brightly or something, to give it away….hell, he didn't even KNOW what it looked like. He was guessing it looked the same shape as the normal Materia that exists on this world.

As they got to the medieval like towers, and ventured close to the smaller platforms leading to the Altar, Chad felt something. Like a calling to him. He stopped at the edge of the main platform, and slowly looked over to the Altar. "…what the…."

"Chad? Is something wrong?" Anna asked.

"It's just…I got this feeling it might be, over there…"

Zhang He shook his head. "Cloud said it was in the water. I doubt it would've been moved."

Chad shrugged. "Well I just got this feeling okay? Look, you guys stay here, I'll check it out. Keep an eye on darkie for me."

Chad soon started to jump from platform to platform leading to the Altar, as Zhang He was keeping an eye on Darkmega, to his annoyance. Soon Chad got to the Altar, and walked to the middle of it, looking around. This was where the feeling came from, no doubt about it…then, he heard a voice in his mind. A female voice…

"I know what you want, but I cannot give it. Not while this place is being watched by those who wish to bring harm."

Chad looked confused. "Who? You mean Darkmega? Relax, he ain't going to do anything. I'll keep him on a tight leash I swear…umm, who are you, anyway?"

"….It is coming."

"What is?"

" The being that wishes to bring harm. It is coming for the Holy Materia."

Chad quickly pulled his Blade of Darkness out, becoming very alert of his surroundings. But there wasn't anything. He looked to his friends, and they seemed alright.

He was baffled. What the hell was this woman talking about? There was nothing around, nothing but the shadow that was looming above Chad getting bigger and bigger and…Chad swore in annoyance, remembering Master Hand with this, and quickly jumped back to the edge of the altar.

But it wasn't Master hand who landed on the ground before him…it was Phantom, and boy did he look like he was ready to beat the shit out of Chad today, who had already paled slightly, remembering this foe.

"Oh…oh hell no!" was all that Chad could say, as Phantom's glowing blue eyes focused on him, that creatures laugh echoing into his ears.

"Well well, Chad Malyan. We meet yet again. You really must keep your nose out of our business, it's not good for your health. Now, I will only ask once. Hand it over."

Chad knew what he meant, at least, he was hoping the creature was thinking of what he was thinking. "If your talking about the Holy Materia, I don't have it!"

Phantom laughed loudly once more. "So, you want to play it the hard way? I suppose I need to crush something today. Haven't had much fun since our last encounter!" and with that, he opened his mouth wide, and a fireball was quickly forming. Chad had turned around and jumped off the Altar, leaping onto each of the platforms leading back to Anna and co, just missing the fireballs that Phantom fired, as they flew past him and struck at the platforms that he was previously on. Anna and Zhang He looked rather horrified at the fact that was a lava spider thing suddenly here, and seemed to not like them.

"Chad! Are you alright?!" Anna said to him, the second he landing back on the main platform area, panting a little. Darkmega was still looking smug, looking at Chad. "A good friend of yours Chaddy boy?"

"Fuck you! We're getting out of here! Right now!" He motioned them to quickly follow him. Fuck the Holy Materia. They'll get it once Phantom leaves them alone or something.

Shame that wasn't going to happen anytime soon, as they had failed to notice Phantom had jumped from the Altar, and within moments, landed in front of them, blocking off their escape route. "Going somewhere boy? Heheheh…"

Chad knew this wasn't good. He held his sword ready, but he knew it was useless against the likes of this monster. Darkmega stopped being smug, and noticed he too, was caught up in their little situation. He formed his dark buster and fired a few shots at the being, to make it get out of his way…this only made Phantom glare towards him. Zhang He had his claws ready.

Phantom opened his mouth, and was charging up a fireball, when he suddenly yelled out in agony, and rose his frontal part of his body upwards, standing on his hind legs almost, as a massive sword had just impaled into his back. The Buster sword, and it's owner holding onto the hilt, standing on Phantoms back, pulling out the sword, and jumping off the lava being, landing behind it, bright orange like blood gushing out of the wound, before Phantom landed on all of his legs again, and quickly turned himself around, eyeing up Cloud.

Cloud spun the buster sword around once, then got into his battle stance. "Sorry, but I won't let you harm them without going through me first." he charged at Phantom, who rose one of his claws to swipe Cloud away. Cloud quickly swung his Buster sword, and deflected the claw with all his might, then quickly jumped backwards to avoid the other claw just trying to hit him. Then he took the chance and ran at Phantom again, swinging the sword sideward's, and slicing the creatures mouth, making the orange blood flow out, and making Phantom swing his claws wildly, nearly hitting Cloud again, as he uses the Buster Sword to keep knocking away the stone claws.

Phantom, despite the wound, fires a fireball right at Cloud, who gets hit and knock flying back by the explosion of the attack, hitting the ground, but soon jumping back on his feet, to see Phantom rushing at him, in mad fury, and smacking him further back with one of his claws. As Cloud hit the floor, Phantoms scorpion like tail appeared from his back, as he quickly begun to move towards Cloud again, this time with the intention of making a kill.

Then, something jumped over him, and before he knew it, several of his eyes had been slashed, and he once again screamed in agony, backing away a little, as Zhang He stood there, right where Phantom was about to go, with one of his claws dripping of the monsters blood. Phantom had stupidly let his guard down to let that happen, but wasn't going to let Zhang He off easy, as his tail shot forward, in attempts to stab Zhang He, but the warrior was skilled in dodging shape objects, easily ducking and pretty much dancing around the tail.

Cloud had recovered, and then, a burst of energy came from him, as he ran towards Phantom, and leaped into the air, his sword held behind him, as a white energy aura flowed around it, and he shot downwards, and swung the blade down…slicing a good chunk of the scorpion like tail off. Phantom shouted out in anger, as the remaining part of his tail returned to his body. What Cloud and Zhang He noticed in worry though, is that as the tail returned to Phantom, his damaged eyes were already healed, as was the gash Cloud made to it's mouth. The tail segment that Cloud had removed turned to ash and vanished.

Phantom noticed their faces, and chuckled once he had regain his composure. "Heh heh, what? Do you think I could be defeated easily? I am more then what you idiots think! Now prepare to die!"

Anna was seriously worried about them, and looked at Chad and Darkmega. "Can't you guys help them?!"

Darkmega thought about this for a moment. "Well I'm not really inclined to give out a helping hand you see…"

Chad sighed at him, and ran towards the fight, cursing himself for doing this…he knows Phantom is gonna smack him senseless, he just knows it. Cloud and Zhang He had quickly slashed Phantom a few times in the face, but this time, he was healing a lot faster, knocking them both away and laughing. As Chad got close, Phantom felt his presence, and used one of his hind legs to kick Chad away, before turning towards his direction, as Chad hit the ground, and started to get up. "I see you can't wait for me to crush you underneath my feet. Very well!"

Phantom charged towards Chad, as Chad quickly used the Blade of Darkness to protect himself. That wasn't useful, as Phantom used one of his claws to knock it aside, thankfully Chad held onto it still, as Phantom's other claw knocked Chad down to the ground, and rose up, it's sharp, black tip ready to impale him, but Cloud and Zhang He had come back for more, as Zhang He dived down at the back of Phantom, embedded his claws into it, and Cloud had used his special powered up ability, Braver, once again, flying down at Phantom, and successfully stabbing the sword into the head of Phantom, literally right down the middle, through a few eyes as well, before the blade stopped, and Cloud had his feet on the ground, noticing the sword didn't go all the way through as planned.

Phantom was pissed. The wounds, though painful no doubt, didn't concern him, as he quickly charged up a massive fireball, and blasted Cloud away, removing the sword in the process, sending Cloud to the ground, near Darkmega and Anna. With Zhang He, as he begun to rapidly stab his claws in and out of Phantom back, he failed to notice the build up of energy beneath his feet, and before he knew it, an explosion of fire energy erupted on him, sending him off Phantom's back, and hitting the ground near one of the towers.

Chad, as he watched them both try to stop Phantom, felt something inside of him, as his heart raced, mostly from the claw still near him. That energy burst from before, when he fought Darkmega. That energy had returned with bloody vengeance. He quickly pointed his hand forward, and the chaos energy ball begun to build up. Phantom noticed too late, as his head had healed itself. "CHAOS CONTROL!"

The red energy beam of Chaos energy smacked into Phantom's face, making him stumble back and screech in pain. Chad got himself up, and got into his battle stance. His confidence, with this energy feeling behind him, returned. This is what he needed during their previous encounter.

Phantom recovered, and looked at Chad, noticing a sudden increase in power…the power he noticed before. He didn't worry about it though, he was angry still, and needed to teach Chad a lesson. He lunged towards Chad, and raised a claw…only for Chad to fire another Chaos Control beam again, smacking Phantom yet again in the face, and a third time, as Phantom got close, before Chad shouted Chaos Control, and vanished in a green light, appearing further back, towards Anna, Darkmega and Cloud. Phantom roared out, and charged again, refusing to slow down. Again he raised a claw, and this time, Chad quickly swung the Blade of Darkness up towards the claw…and managed to slice a decent chunk of, making Phantom scream in terror, and quickly back away, with orange blood, like a river, flowing out of the wound. The decapitated part of the claw stayed on the ground, unlike when the tail piece was chopped off.

Chad was surprised that he was able to pull that off, let alone see Phantom back away so quickly when the others had mauled his face. Then he realized. Phantom had healed his face in mere seconds from Cloud's attack, and no doubt from all the other wounds, but as Phantom was standing there, panting, looking at it's damaged claw in bewilderment, he hadn't healed what Chad had done…he couldn't, for some reason.

Phantom looked to Chad, and backed away a little more. "You…that sword…just like him! H-how did you?!"

Chad raised an eyebrow, it was amusing to see the big lug suddenly seem intimidated. "What's the matter? Did I hurt you? Aww shame, now aren't you going to try and 'crush me beneath you're feet'? or do you suddenly feel a little under the weather?"

Phantom didn't respond. Instead, he seemed to suddenly open a blue spiral vortex next to him, and quickly went through it, and the second his rear went through, it vanished. Chad was impressed with himself. Finally, to make that thing go away. He looked to the remains of Phantom's claw, and kicked it into the water. It made a hissing sound, and steam came from the water the moment it made contact, and soon, Chad felt that burst of energy fade away again.

He put away the Blade of Darkness, and he was sure he felt something land in one of his pockets. He chose to ignore it for the moment, and turned to the others. "You lot okay?"

Cloud nodded to show he was fine, and Anna ran past Chad to go and see Zhang He. Chad didn't notice Darkmega nodding too to show he was fine, as he followed Anna to where Zhang He was. Thankfully the Wei warrior was fine, standing up, holding his back a little, no doubt from the fact he smacked into the floor, but isn't much worse for wear.

Cloud and Darkmega joined them. "Alright, you seemed to have scared him off. Lets try and find the Holy Materia." Cloud said.

Chad put his hand in his pocket, and felt something…and smiled. "I don't think we even need to look." and he pulled out, from his pocket, a small, light green orb, emitting a faint glow. Cloud knew what it was right away. The Holy Materia.

Cloud smiled a little, while looking at it. "Seems like it came to you. Well, that's good then. Now we need to find the Black Materia."

"Well I'll call Dr Light and get him to teleport us to the location then." Anna said.

"No. that won't happen. Teleporting to the Northern Crater is impossible. Probably by some energy effect. I recall hearing the fact it's been tried before several times. We need to travel our way there."

Chad's smiling face soon turned sour. "Travel?…how far do we have to go?"

Cloud thought about this for a second, crossing his arms. "Well, we'll have to get to the Icicle Inn, then through the Great Glacier, then finally up Gaea's Cliff…then we'll reach Northern Crater."

"And how long will this take?"

"Things go smoothly? A day if we keep moving."

* * *

Icicle Inn, the Town's name was. It was fucking cold, freezing, to be precise, and Zhang He REALLY hated it. They had quickly made a stop as Cloud wanted to check around to find out information if the route he and his companions previously took was still okay. The others were waiting in the actual Inn of the place, near a warm fireplace, which to Zhang He, was not making him warm as he sat next to Anna.

"…..I mean how long is he going to be? The quicker we leave this popsicle stand the better for my poor skin!" Zhang He moaned once again. It had only been 10 minutes since they got here.

Anna looked at him. "Zhang He, you just need to wait like all of us. He'll be back soon. He just needs to see if everything is still the same as he last was here. And anyway, by the sounds of the places we need to go, it's not going to get any warmer."

Darkmega was resting in a chair, with one leg on top of the other, leaning back. "Well it's been fun so far right? I mean personally I would rather have seen that Spider-Scorpion like thing kill Chad before we got this far but hey."

Chad instantly glared. Just as he was about to say something, they saw the Inn entrance door open, letting a cold wind flow then, then close, as Cloud entered, his shoulders and hair sprinkled with snow. He walked in, and went over to them. "Alright, got some good news and a little bad."

"Good news is alot of the way we need to go, especially the route down to the Great Glacier, is easier now. They even have a walkway now, granted very slippery from what they said, but unlike the last time I came here, I haven't got a snowboard, so it'll have to do."

Chad looked a little concerned. "So what's the bad news? It's gotten colder then before? Something new is blocking the way thanks to the GF?"

Cloud looked at him quietly for a moment, before folding his arms and looking downwards a little.

"…..I'm right aren't I?"

Cloud nodded. "A GF warship crashed close by the home of where someone lived near Gaea's Cliff. His name is Mr Holzoff, helped me and the others last time. From what people have said, since the crash they haven't heard a thing from him, and by the looks of it, that ship seems to have landed right in the pathway to his cabin. He used to come here for supplies. They also said that it has indeed got colder in the Great Glacier wastes. I've got some Gil with me to buy coats for us to use. Should help till we reach the Northern Crater."

Zhang He sighed in despair and put his face in his hands. "Oh, my beautiful skin will be ruined!"

* * *

Soon, they had set off once again, once Cloud had got them the coats he said about. They were meant to keep them all warm, sadly, that wasn't the case as they begun to head down the new created pathway to the Great Glacier, of all of them, Anna was having a hard time keeping warm the most it seemed, as Zhang He had to hold her arm and make sure she was keeping up with them. Even in her Mobian form it wasn't keeping her from shaking from the bitter wind blowing.

Chad was in his Mobian form as well, and slowed down a little, waiting for both of them to catch up. Darkmega and Cloud walked on down the slope…well, slightly slipping on as the ground was just ice, making things worse.

"Hey Anna, you holding up alright?"

She gave him a weak smile, while shaking, and nodded. "J-just about. This is more colder then the Ice Cap area back on our planet…wish we were there instead of here."

Chad nodded in agreement. "So do I, but we need to get through here Anna, just, hold on alright? Once this little part of the trip is over, it'll most likely get warmer."

It didn't get warmer as they finally begun to get through the Glacial Wasteland. It was getting worse, much worse. To the point Zhang He was getting bad chills and having a bad time walking. Chad had to take over from him with Anna, who was cold to the bone right now, with Chad having to force her to keep walking, but even in all this, he liked holding her close. It felt, nice…

Then they saw it, far ahead. The Crashed Galactic Federation warship. The frontal part of it had vanished underneath the ice. No doubt the ship had crashed in a diagonal way, and that segment snapped and ripped off once the planet's gravity forced the rest to smash down to the ground in time. Most of the seen part of the vessel was covered in a sheet of ice and snow, and the worst part of it all, especially to Clouds point of view, it was blocking their only route to Gaea Cliffs.

Chad knew what Cloud was going to suggest to them all, and just braced himself for it, as they eventually got close, looking at the wreckage.

"….We gotta go through it. We need to get to the cliffs beyond and get to the Northern Crater. No other way about it." Cloud said, after having looked at the wreckage with a keen eye, and saw several openings in the hull, meaning they could get inside.

Chad sighed. "KNEW you was gonna say that…"

Darkmega shrugged. He was cold right now, but he somehow put up with it, much like Cloud. "Cloud be a lot worse Chaddy boy. Anyway, it's bound to be slightly warmer inside. Better then out here, unless you prefer it to let poor Anna become a popsicle."

Chad once again glared at Darkmega, then looked at Anna. She was shaking like leaf, like she was terrified almost, but he knew it was over the fact it was freezing. "Well …suppose you have a good point for once, as much as I hate to agree with you…gotta be a little warmer at least, and looks deserted. Not like we'll get into any trouble inside."

What a way to tempt fate.

* * *

Back at Junon Harbour, there was a new meeting going on between the High Ministers, more precise, Nine of them. It was night time, and they were together in a small meeting room, with the huge windows showing the night sky and the stars, all reflecting on the sea beyond. They had all sat around a small metal table, with the lights on. They were all human members of the Ministry. Yuan Shao was once again suppose to come, but they knew he would fail them again.

None of the outside group were informed of this meeting. This isn't the first time they've been excluded. The humans, those who come of the GF, see themselves and higher people then others in all this. And with this important meeting, they didn't want those 'people' to get in on it.

Dante Yuki sat there quietly, with his hands together, leaning back on his chair, as all the others had settled down, waiting for him to speak. "…Keaton is dead. There is no doubt about it. We've already begun to notice quite a bit of unrest within the GF borders, haven't we?"

One of the female humans, with short Black hair and brown eyes, nodded, as did the rest. "Keaton's disposed of now Dante, and now panic is spreading as the people have no one to look up to in this time of crisis with Unicron. Even with the news of a truce between us and our neighbouring two empires isn't helping quell the worry that's going around. We need to do something now."

Dante Yuki smiled. "Indeed we do. I suggest we get a new puppet into the system, someone younger then Keaton this time…"

An old man, grey haired, with a beard and green eyes from their group spoke up. "You have someone already in mind? Hopefully someone more easier to control then Keaton. We don't need to go full circle again."

Dante nodded at him. "Relax Sijo. I do have someone in mind. Keaton little annoyed follower in Midgar. Rufus Shinra." There was deadly silence in the room. "His already been granted a temporary post. To say his been called the Grand Commander fully, to grant him a substantial reward and increased income, and to say his now the image in the publics eye, a stand in for Emperor? He'll be our wonderful little lap dog, unlike the old gruff hound like Keaton."

One of the other old ones, bald with Blue eyes, shook his head. " You really think money and fame will make him any different from Keaton? Have you seen the reports on him? Keaton never trusted that man! If Keaton couldn't, how can we?"

"Because Keaton was a fool who hardly trusted anyone. You shouldn't believe what he puts down in those. I see this as our window of opportunity. We have the United Federation of Planets and the Galactic Empire at our doorstep, guarding this very planet and calling others of their forces to aid them against Unicron. Without an Emperor, even our efforts in the upcoming battle would hardly be noticed, and the people will see our fellow neighbours as the heroes."

"With a Puppet…just think, we can make it seem like we did all the work. We have a name to use. All the fame will go to him, he'll follow us, and we'll have our firm grasp on everything. So much so, everyone, we can finally control the army once again, and perhaps…forcefully 'ask' our outside companions in our group, that idiot King Mickey for one, to give us their full support, and surrender their planets to us, and eventually, we can, not expand into our now peaceful allies territory…but into the Farside."

There was silence again. Dante took this as a sign they weren't going to argue with him. He took this chance to make it sound a little less forceful and more like a good intention. "With our friends under our control, we can gain far more profit from trades, and with our new allies, just think of all of the possible trade routes we can make, and of course, the wonders, of the Farside….no one knows what's there, but just think of all those fertile planets, those stones and gems yet to be harvested…we can make the Galactic Federation into something more then a new order from SCI…we can make it, the greatest empire in existence."

That worked. There was a nod and a positive feeling going around. Dante smiled at this. "Good, Good…now…all in favour?"

The eight didn't even hesitate. Their hands rose up in mere moments.

* * *

The ship wasn't a place they wanted to stay in for long. It was filled with the sounds of howling winds, the bodies of dead troopers, frozen over, the roof of the ship caved in in certain areas, blocking their pathway, the place was just…miserable. It WAS a little warmer mind, just a little.

They had to get from the side of the ship they got in, to the other side, either to a door or a gap in the hull or even make their own way out, to get to Gaea's cliff, Cloud said…problem was, the inside of each Galactic Federation ship was ALWAYS bloody different. They seemed to have avoided the normal copy and paste for each vessel they designed like their two neighbouring empires, and gone for whatever the maker wanted the insides to be formed up as. Good for battles, as invaders wouldn't be able to rely on what they knew on a previous vessel, downfall, people that get transferred around get lost, ALOT.

Cloud had only realized this today, after yet another dead end, walking into the main generator room of the ship, with no other doors leading out of it. The generator was a dome shape, inside of it, plasma by the truckload was stored. When it's turned on, small lines of green neon lights are normally seen covering the metal dome. Right now, it was dull and lifeless, thankfully not having any sort of leak.

Chad sighed in annoyance, changing back to his human form, along with Anna. "Cloud, I got to hand to you, your knowledge on the Galactic Federation ships is AWESOME." the last word obviously filled with sarcasm.

Cloud frowned at him for a moment, then stood there, arms crossed, tapping his foot, in deep thought. "..hmm…maybe…" he looked at the generator. "Maybe we can turn this on, and with hopefully enough power, use one of the computers to access the layout of the ship. That way we can figure out the best route from here. It should update on what's damaged as well, so we don't end up hitting anymore dead ends or cave ins."

Soon he was seen looking around the Generator, for the switches to get it activated, as Chad looked at the others, waiting with them as Cloud tried to make things a little easier.

It was then the four had heard…metal tapping sounds, from nearby the door they came in. as if someone was using a metal pole to tap on the pipelines or something. Then, a creaking sound, then silence…before a little faint, cracking of metal sound was heard. Then again, silence.

Anna was still shaking. If this had freaked her out a little or not, none of them could tell. "W…what do you think, that was?"

Chad pulled out his Blade of Darkness. "Cloud said there might be a few monsters left on this planet remember, after we left the Forgotten Capital…Darkmega, I want you to follow me. We'll check it out."

Darkmega raised an eyebrow at him. "….And you expect me to follow you without question?"

Chad frowned darkly at him. "NOW, Darkmega." he started to head towards the door, as Darkmega sighed, shrugging at Anna and Zhang He, then following suit, forming his dark buster, getting it ready.

They both left the Generator room, and looked into the corridor, checking both directions…nothing. Nothing was moved, everything was as they last saw well. Then, they heard more sounds of tapping metal, down one direction of the corridor, then the other. Then silence again. Chad was quickly becoming annoyed, guessing it was small monsters or even just critters. "Okay…Hey Darkmega, you go left, I go right? See anything? Blast it to shit."

Darkmega nodded, and they both went their separate ways. Chad headed down the corridor, listening out for more tapping sounds, yet nothing happened. He had to admit, he was getting strange chills down his spine now, especially when he reached the end of the corridor. One direction, was a frozen door, sealed up once, now open, and the other is where him and the others came…

He stopped. And looked at the door again. It was open, showing a corridor they didn't see before. It was heavily damaged, and had five trooper bodies in it, all frozen over…that didn't worry him. It was the fact three were frozen over with their torso armour destroyed, and their chests burst open, their bare flesh and bone frozen solid.

He had to go and see where this led. He begun to journey down the corridor, avoiding the bodies as he went, being cautious. The tapping sound returned, as he turned at the end of that corridor, into another, all of the doors he passed, sealed shut…some of them smeared with blood. He followed the tapping sound down that corridor, and noticed the end of it, was where the ceiling had given way. Meaning this was as far as he could go.

Except the tapping didn't lead him to that. It led to a unsealed door. The only one. The air was oddly getting musky, and Chad felt a bit more worried now. He saw a sign outside the door. Covered in icy blood, but readable. 'LAB 1. DO NOT ENTER WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE CAPTAIN.'

He looked inside the room.

It was a circler shaped room, filled with computers around the edges, all with wires, leading to a tube, humanoid sized, so more of a chamber, in the middle of the room. There was seven bodies laying around…well, heads, torn clothing, bones, blood and bits of flesh and organs. He guessed seven by the heads. The tapping suddenly stopped, coming from this room somewhere. The chamber in the middle of it was mostly made of glass, with metal coverings at the top and bottom, the bottom segment filled with wires.

He couldn't see into the glass, into the chamber. He KNEW he was doing to regret this. He walked over, and very carefully, rubbed his hand over the glass, to see inside. He prayed to god nothing would jump at him and make him shit himself, the place was freaky enough and worrying as it was.

Nothing jumped at the glass. He saw inside, and there, was a small remains of a child humanoid. A few strands of hair, mostly skeleton, with fragments of moulding flesh left on it here and where, and a grey, ragged overall left on the remains. Chad felt relieved, but also disgusted. 'What the hell is a child doing in that chamber?' was the question in his head, as he looked around at the room, then back at the chamber.

Then, he heard a whirring of a generator coming online, followed by the sound of humming, coming from a few of the computers, as the white lights of the lab room come on, followed by a few of the computers. He smiled a little, thankful Cloud was able to make things seem more promising. He stepped over to one of the computers, curious to what the hell was going on in here, when he noticed something as he went over to it…near him, was his shadow, and yet there was another, on the wall nearby…he quickly looked, and saw it was in the shape of a small girl, possibly human, yet, there was nothing that was creating the shadow, it was…just there.

Then, he heard crying from IT. It was crying, and it was female. Those chills were flooding down his back now. He gathered enough in his head in these moments that this little girl is the dead one in the chamber, no doubt a ghost of some sort…him and ghosts weren't the greatest of mixes, so he knew what to do. "Okay, that's great. Yeah, umm, I'll just go and…find your mom or something, m'kay?" he edged towards the door. "Just…stay here and…be a good little ghost and I'll, come back…half past never." and bolted out the door, running down the corridor.

He didn't get far before he suddenly came to a stop. The shadow of the girl was now BEFORE him. On the corridor wall leading to the next one, Still crying. He stood there, quickly trying to figure out a way pass it, when he heard metal scraping against metal…and coming round the corner, were the once five frozen troopers. All of them, including those that had their to chests burst apart, were reanimated, dragging their feet along, covered in a dark grey, eerie like aura, holding their energy rifles, which Chad could see were activated.

Chad quickly got ready with his sword, as two of the Federation troopers weakly raised their energy rifles with just one hand at him. "Alright…Miss Shadow-on-the-wall knows how to raise the dead…great." He quickly dodged the several energy shots coming from them, and fired a Chaos energy beam at one of them, the energy beam ripping right through the remains of his chest, through his back…that didn't stop him, as he continued to move forward, firing his rifle lazily at Chad, who was having trouble dodging in a tight space like the corridor.

"Alright, maybe Zombie rule 101 will do the trick!" he dodged another round of bullets, ran up to the other trooper who was firing at him, and sliced his head clean off. The head rolled onto the floor…as the body tried to reach out and grab Chad, making him jump back in horror. "You're shitting me! That doesn't WORK!?"

He noticed the other three behind the two were aiming their rifles now, and even heard a couple of him groan out weakly, sounding like they were in serious pain. "Help…help…oh god….please…".

He pulled out a Mini Bomb battle chip from his jacket pocket, which he when noticed how cold these things were, in his jacket and connecting to his skin, forming the small blue explosive in his hand and tossing it at them. The explosion knocked down three of them, and stumbled the other two, even made the headless one have his legs blown off…that didn't stop him from dropping his rifle, and CRAWLING on the floor, slowly, towards Chad with his hands, as the others recovered from the blast.

Chad took the chance of them recovering to move in on the one that was crawling and sliced off his arms. That put a stop to him, as the eerie dark grey aura faded from the remains. "Alright, the puppeteer gives up only once the puppet is sliced into pieces…or perhaps disintegrated." he said to himself, thinking of an idea, as he had to dodge more bullets flying at him, and sliced off another pair of legs from one of the other troopers, before taking a few steps back.

He quickly put his hand into his jacket, and got him a handful of battle chips, quickly looking, and found the three he wanted, just avoiding one of the undead trooper who suddenly lunged at him, making him jump back. He put the rest away, holding the three. "Alright, say goodnight! Program Advance! Triple Hi-Cannon!" he put all three onto his skin at once, and his hands were covered in that glowing blue light, before the blue cannon appeared on his hands, keeping them together. "Zeta Cannon!" He quickly aimed it. The cannon was quickly charging up with energy, and before the undead could make any more moves, the weapon fired, engulfing the four remaining with a beam of yellow energy, burning them up into nothing, and the beam exploding on contact with the wall behind them, where the shadow of the girl was.

Chad made the Cannon disappear, the chips appearing back in his hand. He put them away, after seeing the wall destroyed, showing wiring and such, and the dead gone. He felt relaxed…then he felt it. Behind him. He turned. And there she was…no longer just a shadow, but there, standing there, looking at him. Light blue pale, the rag over her, bare foot, green long hair, and grey eyes…she just looked at him. No longer crying, but he felt that she wasn't welcoming him either.

Chad quickly fired a Chaos beam, and all it did was go right through her…she was a spirit then at least…that didn't help. He saw a chance to run through, and did. He fled once again, heading down the corridor, into the other, where the dead were, and finally, down the corridor to the Generator room, and saw Cloud and the others together, just leaving it. "Oh thank god!" he said as he came up to them. The panic in his eyes getting Anna and Zhang He worried. "We need to get the fuck out of this ship! Right now!"

Cloud looked surprised. "Is there a problem? Did you find whatever made the tapping sound Anna said about?"

"A PROBLEM!? We got ghosts! Little girl ghosts! We have to leave!"

They all went silent for a moment…well, except Darkmega, who was chuckling, then laughing. Chad eyes darted at him. "Oh fuck you Darkmega! I'm serious! You may have not found anything, but I did!"

Cloud walked past Chad, down the way he came from. "A ghost you said…alright, I'll handle it. Which way?"

"Left side! The corridor that was sealed off before! Cloud don't!"

Cloud stopped at the end of the corridor, looking to the left. "…The left side you said, correct?"

"Yeah!"

"…Come and look."

They all walked down to where Cloud was, with Chad dreading what they were going to see…and the left side, the door, was re-sealed. It appeared fully frozen over, only the glass parts of the door left unfrozen this time, that was it…Chad's mouth was wide open, looking at Cloud, who had his eyebrow raised, then at the door, then Cloud…then Darkmega was heard laughing even more, as he headed back up the corridor. "But…but…it was…I mean…"

Anna put her hand on his shoulder and smiled at him a little, in reassurance. "Maybe it was just your imagination Chad? This ship is empty except for a few critters perhaps. The noise might've made you think there was ghosts around."

Chad was ready to argue his case, but he just couldn't see a point. And sighed in despair at being seen as having a wild imagination. Cloud smiled at him. "Relax. At least nothing bad happened. Come on, I know a way out. Let's go."

Soon, Cloud, Anna and Zhang He joined up with Darkmega, and headed off. Chad was about to follow, and felt that cold shiver...he looked at the glass of the door, and saw the ghost girl peeping through, staring blankly at him…that made him go faster to keep up with the others. As they left, the girl slowly vanished, and soon, once again, her shadow was seen in the lab, on the wall. Her once body, inside the glass chamber, laying still…


	14. Unicron: Black Materia

They finally reached the edge of Gaea's Cliff. It was now warmer then the previous areas. The moment they left the Warship behind, and it's one inhabitant, things got warmer all the way. They also found out what happened to Mr Holzoff. As they left the warship, they found his body, frozen over, outside it. Perhaps he got killed by a critter or monster. They weren't sure, but it didn't matter now. At least they knew his fate.

His home was still intact. And as Cloud put it, "It wouldn't be disrespectful if we used it to rest and recover before heading up the cliff."

They went inside his wooden building, and found it had logs nearby the fireplace, fur covers, food, water…they soon made themselves right at home, if only for a few hours. They all sat in a circle in the living room. Well, all of them but Darkmega. He was resting on the couch nearby, laying there, listening to Cloud.

"The cliff will most likely be just as cold as the Glacier Wasteland we went through, so don't expect things to get any easier. We'll need to pass through a few cave systems on the way up. Other then that, there shouldn't be any problems getting to the Northern Crater from here."

Anna was seen leaning on Chad's arm, quite snug at the moment, keeping herself covered in fur. "So when do we have to leave?"

"As soon as we feel ready. A few hours tops I think will do. We've eaten and had something to drink. This is the only stop we'll need to make."

Darkmega was still laying on the soft couch when he spoke up. "You sure we won't encounter problems? Maybe we'll get unlucky and Chad will piss himself at the sight of another ghost."

Chad was really getting annoyed with Darkmega's attitude now to this. He was fighting back the urge to smash his face in.

Cloud shook his head. "The only thing we might get is a monster. The Lifestream from the Northern Crater might've attracted a few. Shouldn't be a problem still. Now get some rest, all of you."

Darkmega rolled over, looking away from them all. Chad noticed Anna closing her eyes, no doubt falling asleep, and gently, moved his arm, so she was off it, and put it around her. She didn't seem to mind, and just snuggled up to his chest instead. Chad smiled at her…she was beautiful as she rested, he couldn't deny that…he noticed Zhang He watching them, and smiling, before standing up, and heading into the kitchen area of the house. Cloud was seen turning around, and just looking at the fire.

The Cliff. The coldness quickly return with vengeance. They all stayed close, as they journeyed upwards, often having to stop and warm themselves up a little. All of them but Darkmega, who seemed fine with the icy weather. "What's the matter with you lot? Can't just turn off your senses to the cold or something? Heheh."

He was abusing the fact he was a Net Navi, who could, with skill and plenty of practice, turn off vital systems or humanoid programming. He seemed to have mastered it, which made Chad hate him more.

They continued the climb upwards, still making stops, even getting through one set of the caves Cloud said about, and climbing up to the second cave system that SHOULD lead them to the Northern Crater, when Anna seemed to suddenly slow down, panting, looking dizzy. Darkmega was behind her, and Cloud, Zhang He and Chad were ahead. Chad stopped when he heard Darkmega shout up about her being lazy, and looked. "Anna? Are you alright?"

"I…I just feel, so cold Chad. So tired. All this moving and grabbing on this, cold set of rocks…I think I'll just, get some sleep, a little shuteye…"

Chad quickly noticed she was easing her grip on the side of the cliff. "ANNA NO! STAY AWAKE!" this alerted Cloud and Zhang He, who stopped and looked. Zhang He was quickly trying to head back down, as Anna was letting go, but he didn't make it, as she let go of the cliff, and begun to fall…when Darkmega reached out, and grabbed her with one hand, just catching her wrist. He held on tight to the cliff with his other hand. "I gotcha, I gotcha…"

Chad was dumbfounded, looking down at Darkmega…had he just, saved Anna from death?…Darkmega looked at him for a moment, then, carefully, continued to climb up, keeping a tight grip on Anna. It made it far more difficult for him, but he was pushing himself, instead of letting her go. The others continued to move, as the cave entrance was only a little further, with Chad watching him, actually concerned about Anna AND Darkmega, as Darkmega made the odd slip, but continued to keep a hold of Anna.

Cloud, Zhang He and Chad got up to the entrance, and as Darkmega got close, Zhang He leaned over and got Anna from him, carrying her now, letting Darkmega get up with the use of both hands. As he got on flat ground like them, he found Chad staring at him, looking at him carefully. "…What? Did I rip something?"

Cloud and Zhang He took Anna into the cave, leaving them there. Chad just kept looking at him, as the wind howled against the cliff. Then, looked at him right in the eyes. And in a flat tone. "…Why?"

"Why?"

"Why did you save her? You gain nothing out of it that you could use."

Darkmega was about to open his mouth, then stopped….WHY did he save her? He didn't know himself. It was suddenly on instinct to reach out and grab her. A part of him said that because he would've seen her die…but that's what he wants to see…wasn't it?

He looked a little baffled with himself, then looked at Chad and shrugged. Then walked into the cave. Chad watched him enter, then followed suit.

The cave was just…ice. Everything was iced over. Frozen. All blue and shiny. It was a little warmer once again. Zhang He was seen carrying Anna in his arms. She hadn't opener her eyes yet. Chad quickly came over to check on her. "Is she okay?!"

Cloud nodded. "She'll be fine. She'll recover slowly, just give her time. The worst part I would say, is over now."

Zhang He looked around. "What a wonderful, beautiful place…"

Cloud looks at him. "We're not staying. We have to keep moving. We're not far now. Keep your wits around you and…"

They heard something echoing through the caves. The sound of something stomping coming their way…behind them. They all turned to look, and just entering the cave, was Phantom. Still with a wounded claw, he roared out in fury at them. "THIS TIME YOU WILL DIE!" and without a moments rest, his eyes glaring bright blood red, an orange aura around him, expressing his power was higher then previous, he opened his mouth, and charged up and fireball.

"RUN!" Chad yelled out, the moment Phantom unleashed the fire at them, just missing them all. They begun to flee deeper into the cave system, with Phantom in hot pursuit, firing fireballs as much as he could, determined to mostly, as Chad noticed, hit him. He was feeling a lot warmer alright, as those balls of fire exploding near him each and every time.

He noticed as they went, that he was also risking the others safety, as those fireballs that missed him, keep getting close to Zhang He, thus, close to Anna. He noticed as well, as they went through a huge part of the cave, massive icicles hanging from the ceiling. Phantom was just coming through.

An idea sprung up in his head, as he quickly turned around, drawing the Blade of Darkness. Darkmega stopped, seeing Chad turn to face Phantom. "The hell you doing!?"

Chad quickly looked at him. "Stay with the others! Keep running! I got an idea on stalling him!"

Darkmega saw Phantom charging towards Chad, and did what he was told. Chad quickly jumped back, missing the still okay claw swiping at him. "Whoa whoa easy there Phantom!"

Phantom followed up by unleashing a fireball yet again, Chad jumped to the side, and fired a Chaos Beam. It bounced off the creature without it even looking at him, that was fine though with Chad. Phantom turned towards him.

"That's it you dumb monster! Come at me! I kicked your ass earlier and I can do it again!"

That made Phantom go at him, jumping up into the air, with the intention of flattering Chad under him. Chad used Chaos Control to evade the attack, and appeared on the other side of the room, putting his hand in his jacket, and was checking his battle chips…he found what he wanted. First he pulled out a Hi-Cannon chip, forming the cannon and firing several shots at Phantom, as the Creature spun round. The shots all hit, doing nothing. "Fool! Your attacks are nothing to me now! Prepare to die!"

Chad smirked. "Well then, let's see you dodge this Phantom!" he then showed the battle chips he had ready, a Cyber Sword Battlechip, a Wide Sword battlechip and a Long Sword Battlechip. "Program Advance!" He placed all three on his arm, then like the cannon, a bright blue aura covered his hands, as he held his arms above his head, Phantom looking amused. He knew no slow attack like this would be hard to dodge, he prepared to just leap sideward's, then blast Chad down with the biggest fireball we could muster.

Then, the energy in Chad's hands took the shape of a sword, still flowing like energy, about the length of a claymore. He looked at Phantom. "Dodge this! LIFE SWORD!" he swung it down, and the energy sent out a vertical energy wave, going straight towards Phantom, who laughed, and before it hit, jumped to the side as planned. The energy wave exploded and dispersed on contact with the wall, shaking the cave ever so slightly, the energy itself, on dispersing, flew around the room for a moment…Chad smiled, as he could near the faint cracking of ice.

He disabled the sword, seeing Phantom charging up the fireball. "Hey Phantom, maybe you should be keeping an eye on your surroundings instead of just me! I seem to be bad luck for ya!"

Phantom ignored him, and unleashed a fireball at least four times the size of his normal ones. Chad used Chaos Control, the last drop of energy he had of it, to dodge, and appear where the others went, waved at Phantom, and fled.

As Phantom begun to chase, he now heard the cracking…and screamed out, as one of the massive icicles, a quarter of his width and just huge in length, impaled his back, and smashed into the ground, embedding into it. Quickly, his lava insides were melting it, but soon, as he noticed…dozens of them were flying down. He gave one huge roar of despair, as Chad heard while running, before he heard the echoes of objects crashing into the ground from that segment of the cave, smirking.

He ran on, and soon reached the end of the cave, leading outside, to a snow covered pathway…a small one at that, leading round to another cave entrance. Off the snow path, it was the cliff…and a very, long way down. He saw Cloud and Darkmega waiting for him at the entrance to the other cave, motioning him to hurry. He smiled at them, and begun to walk, relaxed.

As he got halfway, he heard that stomping sound again. He quickly turned, and to his horror, Phantom was on the pathway himself, just coming out of the cave. His eyes were still bright red in fury, but his orange aura was gone, and his body…the lava insides of his seemed, duller then before, more darker, steam coming off him as well. That was a lot of ice he had to quickly melt to catch up, and it's effected his body warmth, and in retrospect, being a fire summon, effected his power all round. As such, he gifted power of teleport was down to, perhaps one shot in this condition. He needed to warm himself up.

"Oh goddamnit! Can't you quit!?" Chad said, not believing what he was seeing right now. He knew his old enemy Chaos was stubborn, but SHEESH!

Chad prepared to run again, but Phantom was already spamming his loved fireballs, by the truckload. Small and numerous, certainly not powerful, but it gave Chad little time to use a battlechip or leg it. He had to jump, move left and right with what little space he had on the side. Soon, he noticed the fireballs stopped, and started to run, when he saw Phantom teleport from behind Chad, to right in front…blocking his only way.

Phantom knew this, and laughed evilly. "End of the line for you, boy!"

Chad looked at the beast…and he was sure he heard Zuo Ci at that moment. Time seemed to slow down, as Cloud and Darkmega were running down to come and rescue him if possible, as Phantom raised his working claw to smack Chad off the edge. "Chad…the Blade of Darkness…allow me, to open one of it's many powers to you."

Chad seemed to look at the Blade of Darkness almost against his will, and felt the power flow into him…he looked at Phantom…and ran at him, and just as the claw swung, he jumped into the air, using it as a platform, rose the sword high, and yelled out "EXPLOSION!" suddenly, the Blade of Darkness glowed bright orange, the blade becoming blunt, and as Chad flew down, Phantom quickly moved back, and noticing the blade could still hit, rose up on his hind legs as much as possible so it would avoid his face, as Chad aim was where it once was…then he recalled what this power was. He'd seen it before.

But it was too late. The blade missed him, and hit the ground before him, creating a explosion that didn't move Phantom, but knocked back Chad, making him hit the ground, holding his sword, dazed a little…the ground near Phantom cracked heavily, making the being lose it's balance, and in one final roar, as the ground beneath it gave way a little more, he fell off the edge, falling down, smacking the side of the cliff on the way, screeching as he fell, chunks of rock and the path followed him to the ground far, far below, unable to seen by a grey mist…

Chad got up, and felt the ground rumble. He knew his part was about to give way. He quickly changed into his mobian form, and ran, taking a leap of faith, as the ground beneath him vanished, and having little choice but to jump over where Phantom was…and just made it, looking back, and seeing the pathway, all the way back to the cave before, had fallen down the Cliffside…and felt this side of it start following. Cloud and Darkmega saw, and turned to run back, with Chad quickly following, the ground with each step for him slipping, his heart racing.

He saw Cloud and Darkmega make it, and as he got close to the Cave entrance he swore to himself, as he had to jump again, the pathway being an asshole and fully giving away before he got there. But this was a lot smaller in distance, and he easily made the gap, landing between Darkmega and Cloud, panting, but he smiled at them. "There…there…piece of…cake, eh guys? Heh…"

They all walked into the cave, as Chad turned back into his human form, to where Zhang He was sitting with Anna next to him. "I heard the roar of that beast! Chad, are you alright?" Zhang He asked.

Chad nodded. He looked around this new cave. It was iced over like the rest, but he noticed a green glowing pool of liquid nearby, close to the direction they had to go, it's glow reflecting on the ice, giving the place a more greener, shining appearance.

Cloud saw it and smiled, walking over to the pool of liquid. "Zhang He, everyone, over here." they stepped over to where he was, Zhang He once again carrying Anna. "It's a pool of Elixir. I recall it from the last time I came through here. Put your hand in it. It'll make you feel fully energised again." he showed them by doing it himself…they saw nothing happen but him seemingly having pleasure written over his face for a moment, before moving his hand away from it.

Darkmega looked at Cloud, then at the pool of liquid. "Did…it give you an orgasm or something?"

Chad sighed at Darkmega, then went over and put his hand in the pool…alright he admitted it FELT like an orgasm. A wave of warmth flowing right through him suddenly, before he moved his hand away. He felt refreshed, even his Chaos Energy was restored.

Darkmega took his turn, as did Zhang He. Then Zhang He moved Anna's hand, and placed it in the pool for a moment, then back. Anna slowly opened her eyes, breathing in shock almost at the sudden warmth going through her. "Oh, Chad…" she sighed in pleasure, before realizing she was near Zhang He, with him, Cloud and Darkmega looking at her.

She quickly sat up, noticing she was in the icy cave with them. "Huh? What? What happened?" Chad was seen looking away, blushing faintly, knowing how the energy felt going through him must've for her, and she thought he did it.

Cloud told her. "You gave up to the cold and nearly fell to your death. Thankfully Darkmega saved you from the fall, and Zhang He carried you throughout the progress we made while you were down and out."

Anna looked surprised at Darkmega, then gave him a smile. "Well, thank you Darkmega." as she turned to thank Zhang He, Darkmega felt this little happiness inside at being thanked…this just confused him more with himself. Why was this happening? Why did he care for what they said? He cursed mentally, before focusing on Anna, as she stood up by herself once again.

* * *

They soon begun to move on from the cave, and arrived at it's exit, not far away from where they quickly recovered….and there it was…Northern Crater…the air was a lot warmer around here. It was more mild then anything. Cloud just told them it might be by the Lifestream flowing here that's made it like this. It was once hundreds of cracked pathways and mist in the past, but now…it was just a huge hole in the planet, they were only a little while away from it's edge. It was filled to the brim, with the Lifestream, that same glowing green aura as the pool of elixir…no, more so…Chad was looking at it, and he felt…strange, in it's presence. They all did.

Lifestream's were the blood of all planets. On the surface, it would condense and form pools of green liquid, many that have named it Mako in this form. Deep beneath the planet though, it flowed like energy. It was the very power that kept all planets alive. SCI had taken a lot of time and research to understand the Lifestream.

They all stood outside the cave. Darkmega looked at the filled hole, then at Cloud. "I thought the Black Materia was around here?"

Cloud nodded. "Down in the depths of that hole, the centre of the crater, was where we battled Sephiroth to save this planet…he died in there, taking it with him. Sorry guys, I had hoped maybe the Lifestream would've returned deeper into the planet then remained here. "

They walked down, and close to the edge of the lake of green liquid. Chad was about to go in, when Cloud held his should, shaking his head at Chad. "Bad idea. Putting a small piece of you in is fine, but submerge yourself in the Lifestream? You have a risk of becoming very…unstable. It feeds you with the memories and voices of others, to the point of confusion and mental breakdowns…I've been there."

Anna looked at him, feeling a little defeated. "So…So there's no way in getting down there to find the Black Materia?"

Cloud nodded sadly. "No there isn't I'm afraid."

Then a new voice was heard, coming from the middle of the lake. "It would not be waiting for you down there, even if you did look for it."

They all quickly looked, and rising from the liquid, with his long silver hair, the green eyes matching the lake, his fair skin, clothes as black as the abyss, along with his one wing, and a sword that was at least the length of a person…Sephiroth. He soon appeared fully from the lake, and seemed to stand on top of it, no doubt using magic to float.

"Because I have it."

Chad knew from description's of the man he was told, that this was none other then the warrior of legend. "N-No way…that's…S…S…S"

Sephiroth shook his head slightly. "My name is Sephiroth, not S, descendent of the hero."

Cloud got his Buster Sword ready without thinking, watching Sephiroth every second. "Sephiroth!"

Sephiroth looked at him, seemingly bored. "Oh, is that you Cloud? Did you lead them here for me to slaughter? I must thank you then. At least I'll be able to do the job that Phantom failed."

Chad looked surprised. "You…You knew Phantom?"

Sephiroth nodded a little. "I've known him for a very long time. We have…close ties to our pasts. I'm surprised he was defeated by the likes of you. But then, you do carry that sword. Still, it is only temporary, the damage he got from falling, and the claw wound you gave him. He'll recover to try and restore his pride on what you did, if you survive here."

Chad got the Blade of Darkness ready, trying to push away that fear he was getting. "Yeah, well, he can try, because I will survive here Sephiroth…"

Sephiroth chuckled darkly. "That sword…you expect it to stop me? No, it's long ago previous holder could not defeat me with it. Today will be no different, bar from the fact your still inferior to him, making it far more easier for me. You hardly know what power is within that blade, do you? It holds far more then just a little explosive burst."

Cloud quickly spoke up. "Sephiroth, I'll deal with you! Not them!"

Sephiroth waved his hand dismissively at Cloud. "Cloud, I am far more older, and more powerful, then my actions showed on this planet. Your nothing to me now."

Darkmega formed his Dark Buster, aiming it at Sephiroth, who now turned his attention to him. "Ah, Darkmega…the one who allowed Richard to become the summoner of Unicron…how does it feel, to be this low now? To assist those you wanted to destroy?"

Darkmega glared at him, as Chad looked at Darkmega, surprised at what Sephiroth said about Richard. "Shut it you. I'm only helping them because I'm forced to!"

Sephiroth smiled at him. "Forced to? Like you forced Richard to become controlled by Unicron?"

This was a blatant lie, but he knew where it would go. Chad glared quickly at Darkmega, as did Anna for that matter. Darkmega was slightly stunned by what Sephiroth said. "B-Bullshit Sephiroth! I never-"

"You forced several Dark chips into him, made him carry the Chaos Soul shard to call Unicron…he was your puppet once, and now his a puppet to Unicron. All thanks to you."

"He was already a Dark Soul!" Darkmega noticed Chad was gripping the hilt of his sword, and his glare was darkened.

Sephiroth once again did that haughty chuckle of his. "Oh was he? Perhaps I can give proof on my side of the story more so…Chad, you have met the old man, Zuo Ci, have you not?"

Chad turned his head away from Darkmega, and looked at Sephiroth, before nodding.

"He is a Deity. A being that can see many things. I am one also. I saw what Darkmega did. We know of what happened, what your destiny could be now. Why would I lie, before you die?"

That was enough for Chad. The seeds of distrust rapidly were sown back into him and Anna. Sephiroth little fun before he enjoys killing them had worked out for him.

Darkmega looked at them, knowing they had believed Sephiroth. "Anna…Chad…look, his lying alright?" he felt the confusion again on caring about their opinions on him, but he chose to ignore it. "Richard was already a monster before I even saw him!"

Before Chad could say anything, Sephiroth spoke up. "Now that's out of the way, let's get down to our business…I predict this battle will end within twelve of my attacks. One of you will be impaled on my blade, two wounded by it, one wounded by other means, and the fifth knocked out cold."

The lake of liquid seemed to ripple for just a moment, before Sephiroth flew at them like a bullet. His first target, who merely fired one dark energy shot from his Buster before Sephiroth towered over him was Darkmega. The energy shot missed as Sephiroth came up to Darkmega, and then he rose his hand in front of him, the palm of it in Darkmega's direction…out of it came a bright light, blinding the others, and after it died off, Darkmega was seen on the ground, out for the count.

Cloud ran at Sephiroth, and quickly swung the Buster Sword…Sephiroth merely jumped over it and him, and landed behind Cloud, pointing his spare hand towards Anna now. And before she could act, a dark energy filled beam flew out of it, and smacked into her, sending her crashing into the rocky ground.

"ANNA!" Chad shouted, before turning his attention to Sephiroth, then firing a Chaos beam, which Sephiroth sidestepped, then rolled forward, as Cloud turned, swinging his Buster Sword. Cloud was cursing the fact he didn't bring any Materia with him so much right now.

Zhang He prepared his claws, then leapt into the air, before diving down towards Sephiroth, who used his blade to block the claws, and as Zhang He was in the air for just a moment as they clashed, Sephiroth suddenly vanish before him, leaving behind a single black feather. Zhang He landed, and looked around quickly with the others, then heard Cloud shout something about behind. When he looked, Sephiroth was there, already swinging his blade at Zhang He, slashing him across the chest, sending Zhang He flying back by the sheer power alone, blood flowing out of the wound, as he crashed into the ground.

Sephiroth didn't get a break, as both Chad, coming from behind, and Cloud from the front were coming at him. He vanished as they swung their weapons, and found themselves clashing their weapons on each other. Cloud looked behind Chad, and Chad turned, swinging the Blade of Darkness at Sephiroth, who was there, that easily blocked the sword.

Chad swung it again and again, both times easily blocked, then Sephiroth swung his blade to make an attack, clashing with the Blade of Darkness, the power knocking Chad flying back, and Cloud having to jump to the side to allow Chad to fly past him without colliding.

As Chad skidded across the ground, before coming to a halt, he felt that power from the sword…that, was nothing like his felt before. Sephiroth was on a whole new level. 'goddamn, why the hell did we get this nightmare? Now I really wish I didn't dispose to Phantom so soon. Maybe Sephiroth would've stayed away.' he looked over, and saw Cloud and Sephiroth exchanging blows.

Cloud was swinging with abandon at Sephiroth, who was blocking with ease, and only trying to attack once in a while, racking up his number of attacks to nine, before he jumped back, away from Cloud, and before Cloud could act, he created a sphere of dark teal energy above his head with his hand, and threw it at Cloud. Ultima. It hit, and Cloud was heard shouting in pain, and Chad saw him fly back midst the explosion of energy from the attack.

Chad forced himself up. And he heard Sephiroth's voice. "Now see how worthless your bloodline is, descendent of Primus." and before him, was Sephiroth, towering over him, his wing fully open…it was a terrifying view, one that Chad didn't really want to see, before the Masamune, Sephiroth's blade, swung diagonally at him, slicing his chest and stomach like Zhang He, making blood gush out, and Chad falling back onto the ground, screaming in pain.

Cloud saw it, and rush as fast as he could to where Sephiroth and Chad were, energy flowing around him. He was going to perform his ultimate attack, to deal with Sephiroth, mustering all his power, into the move called Omislash…he never got the chance. Sephiroth heard him a mile away, and as Cloud got close, quickly turned, stabbing the Masamune into Cloud's stomach, and right through it for that matter, coming out of his back, halting his advance, the energy dispersing, as he yelled out from feeling the cold steel go through him, making him drop the Buster sword in shock.

Sephiroth smirked evilly, as this was his twelfth attack, and lifted Cloud in the air on the sword. "Hm, Deja'vu, right Cloud?"

Cloud sight was blurred by the sheer pain he felt, but was able to look down at Sephiroth, trying to glare at him, gritting his teeth to try and bare the pain. Sephiroth then swung the sword a little, just enough for Cloud to suddenly fly off it and hit the floor.

Sephiroth looked at his blood covered blade, then at them all. "One was impaled, two wounded by the blade, one wounded by my beam attack, and one out cold…this was too easy. Now, it's time to deal with the highest priority amongst you all." he begun to walk toward Chad.

Then he heard a voice, coming from the direction of the lake, one that he knew he should've guessed would come if Chad was placed in severe danger. "Sephiroth…I cannot allow you to harm the boy anymore then what you already have. I must strongly suggest you cease and desist."

There, floating just above the centre of the lake, was Zuo Ci, holding his five cards close to him, looking right at Sephiroth's back. "I see you still keep trying to get your nose in my business, old man.." Sephiroth turned to look at him. "I must say, you appear to have a few more wrinkles after the last time we met."

"And I see, Sephiroth, you still are keeping the look of a pretty bishie boy as before. Keeping your hair groomed and washed daily?"

"You should leave, now. Before I ruin you."

Zuo Ci slowly shook his head. "I cannot. I'm afraid, I must make you leave, and to hand me the Black Materia."

Sephiroth slowly got into his battle stance, chuckling. "And you expect me to hand it over without a fight, do you?"

Zuo Ci sighed, and got into his own battle stance, his five cards flown out of his hand, and were seen spinning around him. "Of course not. Shall we make this a quick one?"

Sephiroth flew at Zuo Ci raising his hand forward and unleashed a wave of purple lightning, which Zuo Ci stopped by forming a large sphere of ice in front of him. The lightning flowed into it, and then Zuo Ci made the ice shatter into sharp fragments, and fly back at Sephiroth, who easily sliced them away, as he got close to the old sage.

He swung the Masamune, and it was blocked by one of Zuo Ci's cards with ease, then swung it again, being blocked by another. Then he vanished, and Zuo Ci teleported himself from where he was to the edge of the lake, as Sephiroth had appeared thirty or so feet above where he was, blade ready to plunge down into Zuo Ci. Instead, Sephiroth vanished underneath the liquid….and within moments burst back out of it, towards the old man, with a Ultima ball of energy his hand, throwing it at Zuo Ci.

Zuo Ci jumped over the energy ball, letting it fly by, then created several balls of fire energy, five of them from his cards and two from his hands, launching them all at Sephiroth, who dodged a couple and sliced the remaining ones in half, smiling in enjoyment at this.

Soon, their paced picked up, taking up a notch, to the normal eyes, it would seem as if they were jumping from place to place, clashing and exchanging magic, but in the way of a sped up film. They never stayed in one spot, several times the lake was seen making splashes, no doubt meaning they sometimes went under the liquid then out again. To deities, this was more normal.

Zuo Ci was calmly avoiding another wave of lightning, and using his cards to create a wave of red flames to force Sephiroth to move back while they fought and flew in the air. "So you must've guessed I was watching your actions by now."

Sephiroth summoned several meteors, small ones, higher up from where they were, to launch down towards Zuo Ci. "I hoped you would act like an old man and ignore such things going on."

Zuo Ci countered by using his cards, coming together in the shape of a star, and firing out a stream of pure icy water, hitting the meteors and making them break from the sudden cool down.

Sephiroth then teleported in front of them and swung his sword. Zuo Ci just as easily teleported away from the attack, appearing a little further back from where he was. "So old man. How is Lu Bu these days?"

Zuo Ci launched his cards at Sephiroth, and Sephiroth quickly begun to dodge them and blocked them, as they attempted to cut into him, like each one had it's own mind. They were a shape as any blade. "He is still being himself. He doubts the boy will amount to much."

"After following Primus, can you blame him?" Sephiroth said, as he unleashed a burst of Dark energy from his body, knocking the cards away, which flew and returned to Zuo Ci's hand. "Primus proved his worth at least. This new one can hardly be called the replacement."

"We'll see…" Then Zuo Ci vanished, and appeared behind Sephiroth, who turned, to see several fire energy filled balls fly at him, followed by several ice element ones, then finally a huge wave of yellow coloured lightning strike out, all of them hitting him. He was seen flying backwards by the barrage of hits, but soon stopped himself…to find Zuo Ci before him once again, blasting him with a beam of holy energy, covering him completely.

After the attack, Zuo Ci didn't move from his spot…and as the beam died off, Sephiroth was seen, covered with his black wing, before it moved away. "…This will do for now. Old man. You always seem to make things interesting. This one you win."

And with that, he covered himself with the wing again, and vanished…left behind, floating there, was the Black Materia and a couple of black feathers, which drifted down to the ground. Zuo Ci reached out and grabbed the Materia, then looked down at Chad, Anna, Darkmega, Cloud and Zhang He…He looked to the sky, and before anyone knew, all of them were gone from the Northern Crater.

* * *

Chad slowly opened his eyes…the ground was brownish…a pavement…he remembered his eyesight being so blurred after Sephiroth's attack, and the pain…jeez. But now, it was gone, like as if a dream had ended. Near him, was a black orb…the Black Materia, it had to be.

He sat himself up, and looked around, seeing the others just recovering as well, with no wounds on them. All of them had returned to Traverse Town, just outside the bar.

"W…what the…what, what happened to Sephiroth?" he said, looking at the others in hopes one of them will know.

Cloud noticed where they were, saw the Black Materia, and just shook his head, as he sat up, looking a little dazed himself. "I have no idea. Something got us out of there though, and healed us too….even got us the Black Materia off him. Talk about timing."

Chad nodded, picking up the Black Materia, and putting it with the Holy one. Then, as they all stood up, regaining themselves…his attention, and his fist, turned to Darkmega. Before Darkmega could to anything, he felt a blow right across his face, sending him down to the floor again, coming from Chad. He quickly looked up at him. "C-Chad!"

"You BASTARD…you…you made him like he is, you disgusting mother fucker…I'm gonna to enjoy killing you…"

Darkmega stood up, rubbing his cheek. "Tch, you really did listen and believe him didn't you? Wake up Chad, HIS the enemy, not me! Along with Richard! Their both the bad guys!"

"SHUT UP!"

Whack. Darkmega stumbled back from a direct blow to his stomach. He saw Chad come at him again, and managed to strike back, punching him right in the nose, making him bleed from there as he too, had stumbled back from that. Then Darkmega formed the Dark Buster, pointing it at Chad. "I'm warning you…"

Chad, to him, something snapped. He wanted to kill Darkmega. He lusted to see that Navi choke to death…that flare of darkness was quickly returning. He screamed out in fury, his mad eyes looking right into Darkmega's making the dark soul flinch.

Anna looked in shock at Chad's sudden anger. "Chad?!"

Before Darkmega could do anything, Chad jumped on him, literally holding him down and punching his face in over and over. Darkmega tried to shove Chad off, but it wasn't happening. Chad was effectively scaring him. He was very afraid right now. Chad was swinging left and right, not caring for what part of the face he hit, he just wanted to smash it.

"CHAD! STOP!" Anna shouted, knowing that what he was doing was just not right. But he ignored her. He continued to assault Darkmega, grinning madly at how helpless Darkmega was. He LOVED this feeling of dominance over someone, it felt great! He begun to choke the Navi as much as possible, to the point he was trying to break it's neck.

Cloud begun to walk over. "Chad, stop it now. Sephiroth was most likely just trying to cause a rift between-" before he knew it, Chad had turn to him, then got up and rammed into him, pushing him down to the floor. Then Chad got his Blade of Darkness out, preparing to swing it at Cloud. "Don't you DARE take his fucking side in this spiky!"

He actually swung the sword down with the intent to kill, but it was thanks to Zhang He kicking Chad in the head to knock him off Cloud that stopped it. But Chad was not going down easy, a dark, purple familiar aura, to Zhang He and Anna, was starting to cover him, as he looked at his new attacker. "Zhang He…that was stupid."

Zhang He quickly got into his stance. "So that nasty aura has reappeared! Anna, everyone, stay back! Our friend here appears to have lost it once again!"

Darkmega weakly looked over, trying to recover, and saw the purple aura…he knew what it meant, and pushed himself up. "His…his got a Dark Soul!"

Anna was deeply horrified at this. "N…No…it can't be…"

Chad heard her, and smirked at her. "What's the matter Anna? Do I scare ya like this? Personally I feel good…great to be honest! Why don't ya join me? I'm sure Unicron's got plenty of this power to go round!"

"Unicron…no…what did he….what did he do to you!?"

"Anna…" he shook his head sadly at her…then suddenly, fired a more powerful Chaos beam at Zhang he, blasting him through one of the windows of the seventh heaven bar. "…he just woke me up."

Anna was petrified, as Chad aimed his hand at her next, charging up a Chaos beam, when a Dark cannon shot was seen hitting Chad, knocking him back a little, as the one who fired it was none other then Darkmega. "Anna! Get Cloud and get into the bar! Now! I'll handle this!"

Anna didn't know what to think. First Darkmega was meant to be the bad guy, then Chad has become twisted again, and now Darkmega is telling her to get away from the boy she likes so much…she did so, getting Cloud up, and trying to make him follow.

Cloud looked at Darkmega quickly. "You sure you'll be alright?"

Darkmega nodded, keeping his Dark cannon focused on Chad. "I'll deal with him!". Cloud and Anna soon went inside, to find Zhang He to see if he was okay mostly.

Chad shook his head at Darkmega, and laughed a little, before getting his Blade of Darkness ready. "Oh COME ON Darkie! You can't beat me! Why even try?"

Darkmega kept his weapon aimed. "Chad…wake up. This isn't you. This is what I'm suppose to be."

"What your suppose to be? Why? Your not anymore? Grown some emotions? Maybe a small, little heart? Face it. Your as nasty as me. You want to fight me as much as I do with you! Come on, lets see who can rip out who's guts first! I'm betting on myself of course!"

He shot forward, and swung the Blade of Darkness, with Darkmega having to move back to avoid it, just firing the cannon at Chad, point blank. It knocked him to the floor, but he easily got back up, firing a Chaos Beam, which Darkmega was hit by, making him stumble. He can changed his Dark cannon to a Dark Cyber sword, running at Chad and swinging it.

Chad suddenly shouted "EXPLOSION!" and as he rose the Blade of Darkness to defend himself, it became blunt and had that orange glow to it again…the swords clashed, and an explosion of energy occurred, sending Darkmega flying back, smacking into the pavement, looking a little hurt, before getting back up. Chad was standing there, just fine, grinning madly.

'Shit. This won't work. Fighting him isn't going to make him stop. What the hell do I do…?' Darkmega thought to himself…the confusion returned…he was worried about Chad?…something wasn't right with him at all, but he decided to keep to these new…things, instead of fighting them. These, emotions…looking at Chad, that was indeed what he was before. What he would be now if he kept to that path.

It finally hit him, as Chad rushed to attack him and Darkmega blocked with his sword. He was gaining emotions…he was changing. This is why that old man who rescued him back on Zebes did it. He remembered the old man's words… 'are you afraid?', that moment, he felt the new feeling…

He jumped back, away from Chad. Darkmega looked at him, and tried to figure out a possible way to stop Chad…then he thought of a, rather suicidal idea. Fighting darkness with darkness wasn't going to help at all, if anything, it'll fuel the evil more so…he looked at the Dark Cyber Sword on his arm, and disabled it, lowered his arms to his sides.

Chad looked annoyed at him. "And what do you think your going to get out of leaving me a chance to kill you?"

Darkmega looked at him. "You always saw me as what I was. I'm not going to let you believe I still am the monster out of the two of us. I'm not going to attack you."

Chad looked at him in amusement, then at his sword. "Ya know…this IS pretty shape. I could easily dice you open to see what your insides look like…"

"Chad, your being pulled in by the same evil me and Richard are made of."

"So what if I am? I'm enjoying it."

Darkmega shook his head. "No your not. that's the Dark Soul talking. Not you Chad. I know what your really like. You would rather kill yourself then accept this, wouldn't you? You would never accept being a puppet to someone like Unicron. He intends to destroy this Universe. You want to protect what you care about in it."

Chad just tried to ignore him, and ran at him, expecting Darkmega to use a battlechip to protect himself, and swung the Blade of Darkness…he hit, and found the blade stabbed deep into Darkmega's right arm, data flowing heavily out of the wound he caused.

Darkmega chose to not defend himself with a weapon. He just allowed harm to come to him, even a Barrier battlechip would've stopped the attack, but no. he allowed himself…something in Chad woke up. Regret? Regret for hurting Darkmega? He looked to Darkmega's face. He was in pain, and gritting his teeth to try and handle it.

He looked at Chad.

"Don't…let it control you Chad. This isn't what your suppose to be. Anna, would never forgive you.."

Chad pulled out the Blade of Darkness from Darkmega's arm, and moved a few steps back…he heard a voice in his head suddenly.

'Continue the attack! Destroy him once and for all!'

Chad felt, as if something else was inside of him now. He managed to break himself apart enough to feel it's presence, to hear it's thoughts…and just enough control to stop himself from charging at Darkmega. He felt his arms shake, something, the voice, was trying to lead him.

'Listen to me! This is your chance! Don't let it go!'

'My chance?' Chad thought in his mind. 'My chance at what? To, to kill Darkmega?…why…why do I want to kill him. His not trying to attack me…'

'Does it matter if he tries or not? He led your friend astray! He made Richard an enemy! Don't give him mercy!'

Chad could feel his legs shaking now as well. 'Stop…Stop trying to make me move. I won't do it. Cloud was right. I shouldn't listen to Sephiroth, Deity or not.'

'Cloud is a fool! He was an enemy to Sephiroth! He has his own reason to distrust that man! Listen to me! End Darkmega's life! His done little for you but be an annoyance!'

Chad looked at his sword…then at Darkmega, who looked uncertain with Chad, but still didn't prepare to defend himself. '…He saved Anna for me. He didn't have to do it.'

He felt his arms were becoming his again, his will suppressing the Dark Soul. 'NO! he done it so he can kill her later!'

'…I saw his face. He was confused after he did it…he seems to be changing from what he was…I can't fight him.'

'YOU MUST!'

'BE SILENT!' suddenly, the purple aura faded from him, and he felt that other part of him, become almost locked away once more. He dropped the Blade of Darkness. His body felt num for a moment, before he, in his mind, returned to it. He felt himself again. He was panting slightly, looking at Darkmega.

Darkmega wasn't sure if Chad was him again, or it was a trap. "…Chad?"

Chad closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them, and picked up the Blade of Darkness, putting it away. He then pulled out a Recovery+ battlechip from his jacket and tossed it to Darkmega…he looked at him silently, unsure of what to say…then looked over to the bar, and chose to head in there.

Darkmega watched him leave, after catching the Recovery chip. He activated it, and his arm healed up within moments. He didn't know what Chad was thinking or even why he didn't talk, but right now, he was just thankful he was alive. He chose to wait for a good 10 minutes, knowing Chad and Anna would need a moment no doubt, as Anna would probably be hugging him and being glad he was okay once again, before going into the bar himself.

He was greeted by a hug from Anna as he walked in. he was just surprised by it, as he felt her hold him close. Chad was seen nearby, sitting at the bar, with Cloud and Tifa, While Barret was seen taking Zhang He upstairs, who looked like he had a few cuts from the broken glass after smashing through, and was out for the cold, most likely having hit a table after flying in.

Anna soon let go, and led him to the bar with her. Tifa looked at him, as did Cloud. "Well, nice to see you managed to resolve it like that Darkmega. Good job." Cloud said.

"Well…it's, no problem. I just had a feeling that attacking him wasn't going to get me anywhere." Darkmega said quietly, just for them to hear.

"You got it right though. If it weren't for you, maybe Chad would've done a lot of harm to everyone." Tifa commented. "I think you guys should stay for the night and get plenty of rest, before heading back to Gaia VII."

Chad remained quiet, as Darkmega looked at him, neither of them answering what Tifa just said. Anna was the only one who replied. "Thanks Tifa. Zhang He needs to recover anyway, so it's a good idea."

Soon, the three had gone into different bedrooms above the bar. They were rather pleasant looking and basic. A bed, a wash basin, and a bedside drawer. It was wooden flooring, with a circle red carpet in the middle of the room. The bed had white pillows on, with a nice red cover…the night was passing slowly, as Chad lay there. His feelings for Darkmega had changed in a flash…he saved Anna, and now him…

He thought to himself. 'Maybe….Maybe I shouldn't be so negative about him. Maybe Dr Wily was right all along…maybe he had learnt his lesson, changed his ways…'

* * *

At Junon Harbour, it was night time once again. Rufus was seen with Master Chief, Dr Robotnik and Colonel. All of them walking up a stairway to one of the higher meeting rooms. Rufus had been summoned, and he already guessed why.

"You think they would make you an Emperor so soon?" Master Chief asked him, as they reached the top, heading towards a double set of metal doors. "I mean it's only been three days since you've been promoted to acting Grand Commander."

Rufus didn't bother to look at him, as they got close to the doors and stopped. He knew why they would. Of course they would promote him now. It wouldn't be long before Unicron was upon them. They need a figure to give people 'hope', and someone that would make the GF look good again after Keaton was such a poor let down.

Rufus spoke to him, as he crossed his arms for a moment. "Right now Chief, I just need you and Colonel to pledge your support, and to act out what I want. The moment I give the signal, I need you to do most of the dirty work. Is that understood?"

Master Chief looked to Colonel, then at Rufus…there was no going back really. "I will do whatever you ask."

"Of course Rufus." was all Colonel said.

"Good…Robotnik, go and reach the main security room. Cortana should've disabled the access to allow you in. shut off all the cameras." Rufus quickly looked at Robotnik, to make sure he got the message.

Robotnik nodded, and departed back down the stairs.

Then, Rufus headed to the doors, and opened them. Inside, sitting at a U shaped metal table, with the centre gap facing Rufus, were the Nine Ministers. Rufus chuckled a little to himself. He expected this. Of course the outsider Ministers would not even get note of his promotion until after, and he noticed Yuan Shao was not here. But nonetheless, these were the main glue of the High Ministers, the humans…this is too perfect.

Walking in with him, was of course Master Chief and Colonel. The room was rather dimly light, with mostly the middle section of the ceiling lights on, making as if a beam of light was coming down in the gap of the table. This room had no windows in it, but instead, hanging on the walls, were the flags of the GF, so proud…

The floor was all blue tiles, and the nine were all sitting there, watching him carefully, as he stepped closer, soon standing in the light, with Master Chief and Colonel waiting near the doors, closing them after he stood in the light. Rufus looked at the person directly before him, sitting there, smiling. Dante Yuki.

"Ah, Rufus Shinra. You must be wondering why we would call you here so late? And to ask you to bring two witnesses?"

Rufus shrugged. "I have a feeling it's to do with the fact you need an actual Grand Commander, Minister Yuki, and I'm the right one to fit the shoes."

Dante shook his head. "Oh no no no Rufus, nothing so trivial as Grand Commander. Looking at your records and those around you, you've shown a lot of promise, especially to the now deceased Keaton Al'Keriff. What we need, is someone to be acting Emperor…"

Rufus couldn't even pretend to be surprised. He just gave that boring stare he had at times, waiting for Dante Yuki to continue.

"Now, I admit, this is a major jump from Grand Commander to Acting Emperor, but with it comes great rewards. Plenty of fame, a larger pay check, and a bigger range of control. To top it off, you may also voice your suggestions when we ask you to join us for any matters we feel needs your input. It will be hard work, but unlike Keaton, I'm sure your more then capable, aren't you?"

Rufus looked at the other Ministers. "Are you all in agreement with this then?"

Dante felt that was a little rude, but allowed it, looking to the others as well, each one nods as Rufus gazes his eyes at them, then back at Dante Yuki.

"Good. Then I'm honoured to accept the rank of Acting Emperor, if it is the will of the High Ministers."

Dante resting on his chairs, putting his hands together. "Excellent. I knew you wouldn't turn down this opportunity to be something that'll never be forgotten. You have a bright future ahead of you, Emperor Rufus Shinra. For now, we would like to ask you to listen to our suggestion for the upcoming battle against Unic-"

Rufus raised his hand, showing his palm to Dante Yuki. "Hold on. Before you go into what you want. I would like to suggest a decree. One little one."

Dante went silent. He found this new puppet of his to be rather rude, but if he wants to say one small thing, it can't possibly hurt. He nodded at Rufus in approval. "….Go on."

Rufus slowly turned, looking at each and every Minister directly. "The Galactic Federation…haven't you noticed how much it's decayed over the years? With all of it's useless battles with the United Federation of Planets, and Galactic Empire and the Republic? How much it's reputation, since the fall of Armstrong Houston, has gone down? He gave birth to it, in order to fight off SCI's own decay. Of it's corruption, Do you wish to know why it was corrupted? Why he stood up and became a proud, but flawed, Emperor?"

He reached back his line of sight to Dante, and pointed at him. "Because of you. Because you think money is the only answer to everything. The Universe is nothing but profit to you, along with it's people."

Dante was offended by this. One of the other Ministers, Sijo, spoke up. "How dare you talk to us-."

Rufus cut him off. "Drak was an Emperor, surrounded by Ministers of his own, was he not? They were the main targets of Houston's mission. Don't get me wrong, two of Drak's family were on the Minister table, but they were all the same…they spoke to Drak, told him of what to do…and he listened. He made money, he made profits for himself, and those of the High Ministers."

He turned away from them, the shadow made by the light made him look more sinister now then much earlier to them. "That's not what I want. You don't need pitiful objects like money to control things. Fear, words, understanding. That's all you need to keep people in line. You don't need to throw money at everything. A little fear can silence a man for good, while cash will only delay him, before he runs out and demands more. Put a chain of terror on him and keep him in check, and he'll never dare anything again."

The Ministers were getting pissed off now. Dante decided to try and calm them by standing up and speaking. "Rufus, you expect things to change so drastically? Wake up, you know as well as anyone money is what drives the Universe."

Rufus chuckled, looking at the doors. "No, that's your foolish, idiotic attitude….you and all of those here before me, the new Emperor….and as that Emperor-" he pulls his shotgun out, turning quickly and aiming right at Dante Yuki's chest. "-I believe it's time for a little change in that attitude. Don't you?"

He fired. The shot tore through the white robe of Dante, and blood was seen spraying. Dante flew over his chair, knocking it down with him, as he hit the floor. The other Ministers panicked, getting up to flee, but as Rufus just stood there, Colonel got out a Vulcan battlechip, making the device form on his hand, while Master Chief got his energy rifle out, and both opened fire at the others.

The terrifying screams that came from them all, mixed with the sound of weapons fire, soon was silenced, as the last female Minister hit the floor, bullet holes in her body, and in her head, along with the other now dead Ministers. Rufus walked out of the centre of the table, and walked around, stepping over the dead bodies, through the blood that covered the blue tiles red, up to where Dante Yuki was…he was still breathing.

Dante Yuki, in his wisdom, wore body armor incase anything possibly happened at all times. It had stopped a lot of the fragmented bullets from hitting his organs, but the power of the shotgun was enough to tear through some of the armor, and hit his chest, causing him severe pain, and minor blood loss. He heard the sound of footsteps, and looked up, after being face down on the floor, to see Rufus standing near him, Shotgun aimed right in his face.

"R..Rufus, you…bastard!"

"Hmph, call me what you want Dante. It doesn't matter. With you all gone, it's just Yuan Shao, and his hardly a danger to me as it is. The outside Ministers have little power thanks to you. It's all broken down in one quick movement…it stings, doesn't it? You thought you picked a perfect puppet to control."

His finger went onto the trigger. "When in fact, you promoted someone who'll take a hold of all these matters…be an actual Emperor…now, my first decree…is this…there will be no more High Ministers to control the Federation. Instead, all power will be given back to the Emperor." He looks around on purpose, and looks down at Dante again. "Oh yes, it's already carried out, isn't it?"

"Y..you…"

Rufus looked down the length of the Shotgun. "Rides over Dante. I don't need snakes whispering what they want in my ears."

He fired the gun. Dante's brains, fragments of bone and blood, spreading itself across the once clean floor.


	15. Unicron: A Coalition

Unicron felt it.

He was drawing closer to his target. For so long, as he waited for his awakening, this was the chance he wanted, of causing this level of chaos. Nothing could stand in his way but those three tiny items…even they cannot fully harm him without being combined. He had it all in the bag really.

Only another 24 humanoid hours, then Gaia VII will be in his reach, in reach of his hungry maw. He now had to wonder, would it taste good? Would it be better then any of the planets his fed on before?

Probably not, but the inner feeling he'll get from eating it will certainly be the best.

Inside of him, he felt the presence of the Zerg, and of Richard. His minions should deal with anything that might get past his defence barrier. He knows all too well that things never go smoothly when a Malyan's in the mess, and knowing his fortune, a group will get inside of him and try to take him out from within…well, he would like to see them try with Zerg tearing at their spines.

He chuckled to himself at the thought of it. This was all going to be great for him, if he is able to feed off this Chaos he'll cause, then nothing will ever stop him again…nothing…

He said this before to himself. Millions of years ago, and yet, something did…Primus, and his six friends. Two deities in that mix as well. He had two of his own to back him up. Sephiroth, and Kefka, both said they would support his mission to bring fourth Chaos…only one of them survived the Primus era.

Unicron knew the fate of Kefka, he chose to make the decisive fight between the deities, back then, three-way, taking on Sephiroth as well as the two that were with Primus. Why? He believed Sephiroth would turn colour once Unicron had fed on the main planets, and decided to take out a possible traitor as soon as possible, thinking Sephiroth did not truly live to simply destroy…he perished by the hands of Sephiroth, with a little help of Zuo Ci, one of the two deities allied with Primus.

Unicron had to admit, he wondered where Sephiroth went after the death of Kefka. He presumed Sephiroth must've jumped ship when he knew Primus had a chance at victory. He was surprised Sephiroth returned to see him once he awoke once more, saying he would assist.

Soon the mind of the planet eater begun to think of Primus more and more, an inner rage begun to fill him. Him and his allies, they hindered his mission left right and center. Many minions under his service were taken out by them and he was finally defeated by the boy…the damage done was enough to make him shut down. He was close to victory. His body, once the mind was disabled, plotted it's own course, and brought him out into the void of space that he slept in for so long, before Darkmega woke him.

Then, the images of his final battle with Primus returned…Unicron killing Anna, Primus's lover, suddenly making the boy weak, he was so close to victory, killing Thor and Odin, two of the companions, then, the boy made one final attack…and it got him. It got Unicron. He didn't see it coming, the last swing of the Blade, the reminder of the pain made him roar out in fury, light flowing out of his mouth…

Then, silence….before Unicron continued on, to his objective.

* * *

It was 8:50am in Traverse Town. Chad was already in the bar area, along with Anna and Zhang He, who had recovered now, and they were getting ready to leave, saying their farewells to Tifa, Cloud and such.

That's when Darkmega came down the stairs to join them. Chad went silent once more, as Darkmega said his own goodbyes, and stood with Anna and Zhang He. He looked at Chad, and was thinking about what to say, but, nothing came out, just silence between them.

Cloud noticed this, and decided to speak. "Chad, perhaps you should thank Darkmega for helping out throughout all this. If it weren't for him being around, we might've lost Anna, and we might've lost you."

Chad looked at him, then just walked out of the bar. Anna was surprised with reaction, and quickly followed him, along with Zhang He, leaving Darkmega behind for a moment.

Tifa smiled at him. "Don't worry, I'm sure Anna will get Chad to thank you sometime. Hope you lot can come visit us again sometime."

"Thanks Tifa. You take care. All of you." Darkmega replied, before departing himself. He knew he was going down a new path after doing what he did yesterday, a path filled with these emotions he once refused, denied, as a Dark Soul.

Outside waiting was the others, and Anna called Dr Light to teleport them back to Junon Harbour, with the Black Materia and the Holy Materia in tow now.

When they were teleported back, they arrived in the office that they were in before they left. There, was Dr Light, Dr Wily, Dr Robotnik and a quite a few others, mostly News Reporters. Chad's first reaction was to quickly put his hands up, expecting it to do with him in some way. After a moment, he noticed that none of them were interested in their arrival, and were focusing on Dr Robotnik, who had Light and Wily with him earlier, but they had now walked over to Chad and co.

Chad was interested as to why Robotnik was having to answer so many, as he could just hear and make out. "So Docs. What's going on? He made a doomsday device or something and promised it'll do good for mankind?"

Light shook his head rather grimly. "No. it's something else Chad…some of the High Ministers of the Galactic Federation have been brutally murdered. In one of their meeting rooms here no less. The GF Police are still investigating the murder scene. The news got out and around like wild fire."

Chad wasn't even going to act like he cared. He wasn't one for politics. "Some huh? So what? There are others left then right?"

Dr Wily sighed. "Chad, the ones that were murdered were the prime High Ministers. Nine of the Ten."

"….Prime High Ministers?" Chad raised an eyebrow.

"Look Chad, there are 15 High Ministers. Ten of them are the central power of the Galactic Federation. Five are leaders of outside forces. Those five hold no real power but their own. The ones that are dead are those that pretty much watched over the GF. Only Yuan Shao is still alive."

"So he holds control of the WHOLE Galactic Federation?…oh dear, this isn't good." Anna said.

Dr Light looked at her. "No Anna. It seems something else happened. Before their murder, they nominated a new Emperor. A written agreement was found this morning, signed by all nine before they were later murdered. Yuan Shao's name wasn't on it, but he admitted that he failed to attend as always. That could cause problems, since he still has their power."

"Who's the new Emperor then?" Chad asked.

The answer actually just came through the door, into the office area, making everyone go quiet for a moment, as his footsteps echoed on the floor, before the door automatically closed behind him. Standing there, was Rufus Shinra.

"I am."

The crowd quickly left Dr Robotnik and rushed past Chad and the others to surround their new Emperor.

"Emperor Rufus, is it true that you were present when they had agreed to your new position?"

"What's your stance on the stories about the Planet Eater being inside Galactic Federation space?"

"What of the tenth Minister? It's rumoured he had not agreed to your promotion, and he is a survivor of the attack."

"Is it true that you plan to end the war between us, the United Federation of Planets and the Galactic Empire?"

"There's a rumour going around that you may have staged the whole murder incident of the High Ministers. What're your thoughts on this?"

Rufus seemed collected and calm, with any answers he gave, they all went silent, eager to get it recorded.

Chad wasn't impressed, quickly turning back to Dr Light. "Seriously? They got him to fit the role?!"

Dr Wily nodded. "That they did. While I am surprised, it's not fully unexpected of Rufus to be leader material. He quite bright, and has a good head on his shoulders. He'll be much more better then Keaton at least Chad."

Chad scoffed at that comment, then decided to leave, as Darkmega followed him, Zhang He and Anna stayed put. Anna wanted to congratulate Rufus on his promotion.

Chad had travelled down several corridors, heading towards his room, hearing the sound of footsteps behind, knowing it was Darkmega. He quickly guessed Anna and Zhang He weren't around, leaving him with the Dark Navi. He didn't know what to say to him, or wanted to say. He knew Darkmega pretty much saved him from being corrupted. But this was Darkmega. The asshole who got them into this mess pretty much.

Soon, as they got close to his room, he stopped dead in his tracks, with Darkmega stopping behind him. "….Why are you following me?"

Darkmega shrugged. "I dunno. I thought you were gonna go after the next object you need. You can't be after a couple of bits of Materia for no good reason."

Chad kept his back to Darkmega. "..I need a third item, and it's with Optimas Prime. I'm going to handle that later."

"Why not now? No time like the present, right?"

"Because I just need to be alone. Need some breathing space, clear my mind and all that. Get myself sorted out with what happened Darkmega."

Darkmega chuckled darkly. "What? And I get no thanks for my part in saving your ass? Or is it about what Sephiroth said? You still slightly believed in it didn't you? About me making Richard what he is now?"

Chad instantly turned around and glared angrily at Darkmega, who just stepped back a little in worry. "As a matter of fact Darkmega, It's all of them things. I still think that you may as well caused him to become a monster, I am convinced that what Sephiroth said was true in some ways, and finally I would've got myself out of the Dark Soul issue eventually Darkmega. I didn't need your help. You just chose to. Your choice. Your fault. Like everything you decide to do.". with that, Chad walked into his room, slammed the door shut, and locked it.

Darkmega was hurt by that comment, and angered. Yeah. He didn't have to, but he did, and all his getting from it is stress off Chad. He wanted to shoot the door down and punch his face in for being so rude, but he knew that wasn't the best of options. Right now, he wanted to see Medi. To talk to her and relieve some stress. She's quite friendly, and unlike Chad, at least it's someone who respects him a little.

Chad stood there, at the door, waiting for Darkmega to leave. Once he heard him walk away, he sighed, and walked over to his bed, and sat down. To say thanks to that asshole for saving him from committing horrible acts…it wasn't right. That thing caused grief to him and the others, to give it thanks just wasn't an option to Chad yet. He decided to wait for a good hour, then he'll set off to find Optimas Prime about the Matrix of Leadership.

As he thought about it, he swore he had heard a chuckle in his mind…a chuckle coming from Unicron. He ignored it, thinking it was down to the stress he got from his little adventure, laid down on the bed and just relaxed for the hour.

As he laid there, eyes closed, he felt comfortable…allowing a warm sensation wash over him which seem to have come from nowhere. It was rather pleasant, numbing to his senses, making him feel at ease…and when he opened his eyes again, he was smirking evilly, getting off the bed.

* * *

Optimus Prime was standing in the Harbour area of the place, looking out to sea with Megatron, Soundwave, Starscream, Bumblebee and Ironhide. They had nothing better to do and felt that perhaps having a break and some fresh air, regardless of their machine status, might be pleasant.

That's when Chad came outside. Megatron is the first one to notice his arrival. "Hmm?"

Chad waves at him. "Hey Megatron. Name's Chad Malyan. Member of the Hero base like you? Just wanna talk to ol' Optimus Prime over there."

Optimus soon turns to see Chad, hearing him. "Ah, the young friend of Richard Wily. What do you need to ask?"

"Well, I sorta need something you have. For, well, the sake of defeating Unicron."

Optimus Prime was slightly surprised. "I have something you need?"

Chad nods. "Called the Matrix of leadership. I seriously need it to help in the battle with Unicron."

Asking for it alone made Optimus cautious. "I, would rather prefer it if I had confirmation from one of the good scientists, Chad. It isn't an item I can just hand over. And it's size is rather large for you."

Chad quickly thought about demanding it, but knew that six giant robots were more then a match for him. Also, if it is as big as Optimus is suggesting, he can't just carry it….then, he thought of an idea. "Alright then Prime. So, uh, where…is it precisely anyway?"

Optimus Prime pointed at his chest. "It's stored in here, safe and sound."

Chad smiled. "Ah cool. Well alright then, I'll be back when I asked them to come and tell you it's cool." he soon walks off.

Megatron watches him leave. "…You think his planning on stealing it? Strange question if you ask me, to know where it is…"

This made Ironhide chuckle "And how's a small little guy like him gonna steal it off Optimus Prime huh? Chill out. He can't do shit to us."

Actually. He could do something. Chad walked around Junon, looking for the Teleporting rooms, at least one of them for this idea in his head. Soon, he found one in the upper floors. It was a room with a few computers round the sides, simple steel room, dull, with a few lights on the ceiling, and in the middle, was a yellow circle symbol, to show where they would normally teleport in people. They prefer to keep things organised, instead of teleporting people to the PRECISE location they want, as heart attacks to observers have been known.

He walked over to one of the computers, and begun to type on it. Teleport target, chest of Optimus Prime, energy source within it. It was a large wave of energy, and he knew it had to be none other then the Matrix. He would first teleport it here, then redirect the teleporter to send it to none other then Unicron…Granted, it would take time to reach that far, but he knew he could do it…

In his head, he HAD to.

* * *

Soon, the reporters and such begun to disperse from where Rufus was, being shooed away by the troopers to allow their soon to be crowned new emperor to have a rest. The only people that were left in the office were Dr Light, Wily, Robotnik, Anna and Zhang He. Rufus smiled at them all, and walked over to them. "Well, glad they've left. Most of those questions were just repeats. It was getting annoying."

Zhang He said, in a rather dramatic tone, common for him, "Rufus, congratulations on getting such a promotion. to have someone of your beauty to lead our wonderful empire to a new era is a great sign of things to come!"

Rufus chuckled a little. Then saw Anna put her hand out for Rufus to shake, which he did. "Just think Anna, you're one of few first people to shake the hand of a new ruler. I'm glad it's someone as beautiful looking as you that is present."

Anna went a little red. "Oh, well, um…thanks. that's real sweet of you to say. Me and Zhang He need to get going now anyway. Just wanted to say congratulations myself." with that, her and Zhang He left the office.

Albert Wily was grinning, as he now put his hand out to shake with Rufus, who was happy to give his hand. "Well now Rufus, I can only wonder what way you'll take this empire. And if that mysterious assassination will occur again or not… I'm still surprised with that. No camera footage, no witnesses to the murder of the ministers, nothing at all."

Rufus shook his head a little. "Oh Albert, there was a witness. They even saw the murder."

This….took back Wily, and as well as Dr Light. "…I'm sorry, what did you say Rufus?"

Dr Robotnik was getting worried. Where was Rufus going with this?

Rufus was still smiling. "Oh yes, there was a witness. He oversaw the murder, and also joined in, killing one of the High Ministers himself, Dante Yuki…that murderer. Is me."

Dead silence followed this. It was for at least a good 30 seconds before Rufus followed up with "I don't regret committing the act. From planning it to actually overthrowing Keaton and the High Ministers. In the end, they were all useless and greedy for their own needs. I felt they needed to be disposed of."

Dr Light managed to finally speak. "You…you took them down? Why? What, what did they do to you to commit this act?"

Rufus turned away, and walked around them, heading towards the windows, looking out over the sea. " The only one that did anything to me, was Keaton. It is not over the fact he killed my father. I would've got rid of him eventually if Keaton didn't. no, it was because I was tired of him, of the way he acted, of the stupid war he had started. He had put two perfectly good allies against us, which I now plan to correct and use, for us."

Dr Wily looked to Robotnik, who had his head down, avoiding his gaze. Then, Albert walked over to where Rufus was, standing next to him, as Dr Light remained near Robotnik.

Wily just stood there, looking out to the sea, the blue sky and the clouds. "…Then you're telling us this for a reason. Certainly not from a guilty conscience. No, it's something else you want. Hmm….let me think…"

Rufus watched him from the corner of his eye. "It shouldn't take long for a brilliant mind like yours to figure out what I'm after.."

Albert Wily tapped the floor with his skull staff a little, then tapped his foot, going into deep thought for a moment, then looked at Rufus. "A new fledgling Emperor, of a new time and era, with the known stable government thrown down and crippled, would need the help of some of the greatest minds to show an effective image to the public, for them to accept him into their arms. My Family and Light's is rather renown in the Galactic Federation, to have us on your side would certainly show the people you can lead them with such help. And of course, this will be after we deal with the Planet Eater Unicron…"

Coming over to listen in, was Dr Light and Dr Robotnik, as Wily continued. " With Unicron defeated, your image would be known in the eyes of the people, but even that alone wouldn't be sufficient to make them think your useful, that's when we come into the picture. To claim you have us on your side afterwards, that would solidify your position…of course, me and Dr Light, have our own group to care for now, which include a now ex-High Minister, giving us a position of power in a way, if we wanted to abuse it…"

He was looking Rufus right in the eyes, then chuckled darkly. " And we have no desire to be folded under the rule of the empire. We created this small faction to provide freedom. The only option you have left, is to offer us a subjection, where we become an official separate force, working with the Galactic Federation, much like what they had with King Mickey and the outsiders. This way, in a sense, we're under your service, yet keep our identity, and you know all Yuan Shao cares about is his own future, so no matter where this goes, he'll hardly raise a rebellion against you…you told us about your act because you know I have faith in you, as we both have blooded hands that we've caused ourselves."

Rufus smirked. "As expected, you would explain it all in detail. You haven't changed at all over the years Albert. You now figured out what I want to offer you and Thomas. The question now is, do you accept?"

Dr Wily looked at Light, who knew Albert had figured it out, and trusted him. "…Albert. I think we should decide after we handle Unicron first. We've only just begun to collect what data we can on him, and need to focus on that before he arrives."

Dr Wily nodded, and begun to walk off, with Dr Light following. Light turned around and looked at Rufus and Robotnik one more time, before he left. Robotnik was still tense about this, quickly focusing on Rufus. "What if they turn you in!? To lose now would mean those deaths were for nothing! Then I'll be doomed as well! This whole coup will come crashing down! We'll be sentence for life or even put to death for what we've done!"

Rufus laughed a little, before looking outside the window again. "You weren't listening. He has faith in me, and he and Light think alike in so many ways, I doubt Thomas would do anything…they'll accept, and allow me to have them under my wing."

It was as Wily and Light were heading down one of the corridors, when Dr Light's Com-Link went off, beeping badly. He answered it, hearing the voice of Ironhide. "Hello? Hello!? Yo doc, you there?!"

"This is Dr Light Ironhide. Is there a problem?"

"A problem? Our leader's Matrix just got stolen! Right outta his chest!"

Dr Light looked at Dr Wily with a look of '…wait what?' before talking. "…um, come again?"

"The Matrix of Leadership doc! It's been stolen from Optimus Prime!"

"From his…chest?"

"That's right!"

Dr Light shook his head, then again, looked at Wily. "How can anyone steal a device that large from a robots chest? I thought he kept it closed and sealed tight?"

"Well it was! But now it's gone!"

Wily shrugged. "I have no idea, maybe…" then he realized. "…Teleportation."

Dr Light eyes widened. "Oh my…Ironhide! I'll have to disconnect the call and get on to Rufus at once! Make sure Optimus Prime is alright and we'll get it back!"

Before he could disconnect the call to make one to Rufus, a new voice was heard, Megatrons. "Doctor Light, this is Megatron speaking. I would like to give you a small hint to who, might've taken it…"

* * *

Chad stumbled out of the teleportation room, dazed, and confused. How in the hell did he get there, why was he here, and which way was it back to his room? He just felt tired right now. He wanted to get some rest before collecting the third item, just lay on that bed, dream some dreams…maybe Anna…in a tight fitting red bikini, then laying on a bed, waiting for him, her skin tanned, oiled with the sun cream, with the Bikini bra undone, so all he had to do, was pull it right off to see her wonderful-

He saw several troopers running up the corridor, guns ready, right towards him, one of them bellowing out "STOP RIGHT THERE CRIMINAL SCUM!". Before he even knew, a few of them smacked into him, pinning him on the floor, hands behind his back, shouting at him to stay down and stay where he was. He heard one of them saying about him matching the description given to them by Dr Light and were nearby the most recent teleporter room used….wait, Dr Light?

In the hustle and bustle of it, Chad finally decided to speak. "Hey. Hey! What's going on? What'd I do now?"

He got no reply. Soon he found himself being forced to his feet, and ordered to start walking, as a couple of troopers ran into the teleporter room, he was being led down the corridor, and eventually, after going through several more, in one corridor, waiting for him, was Dr Light and Dr Wily…both weren't looking too happy to say the least.

Chad was now more worried. "…Heyyy, this isn't about me leaving Darkmega alone is it? Listen his not a kid, I don't see why the hell I have to-"

Then, Dr Wily got his Com-Link, and a voice of a woman was heard. "Dr Wily, we've confirmed an object was teleported out of the room in question. We have also confirmed it's now known location…you won't like it."

Dr Wily looked at Chad sternly, then said. "Go on."

"It's now been teleported to the machine known as Unicron sir. That is all."

Dr Light was shocked. "…U…Unicron?!" Glaring at Chad. "Chad! You gave the Autobots Matrix of Leadership to Unicron!?"

This snapped him awake. "..I….I did what!?"

No, this can't be happening. It's gotta be a dream, a nightmare. This was all Chad was thinking.

"You gave the Matrix to that planet destroyer! It holds a vast amount of power! Who knows what Unicron can do with it! You just gave it to the worst being known, making our chances worse!"

"..I, I did that? But, but I don't, don't remember…"

He was lost. When did it happen? Was this why he was in that room? When did he plot this? Why did he plot this? Then, it clicked in place what must've caused it. That voice from before, as he was fighting Darkmega. The way it controlled his body, did it, also, control him to commit this act?

"Wait, I know what might've caused it, caused me, to do it!"

"Caused you do to it? The hell you talking about?" was Dr Light's response.

"Listen to me for a moment Doc! Find Darkmega, Anna and Zhang He for me, they'll help explain what's going on!"

It had taken a good hour, but soon, Chad had found himself in his bedroom, with Darkmega near him as Chad was sitting on the bed, sitting in a chair nearby them was Anna, with Zhang He standing near her, and finally near the door into the room, was Dr Light and Dr Wily.

Dr Wily was the first to talk. "Now, I've posted guards outside. If I don't like what I hear, they grab you, you get in the slammer Chad, is that understood?"

Chad nodded, as Wily continued. "I've explained to Optimus Prime that you claim you didn't do it directly, but the robots claim you saw them before this act…I take it you don't remember that though?"

Chad shook his head. "No, I don't."

Dr Wily sighed a little. "Alright…now explain."

Chad soon talked about the voice in his head. That it made him attack Darkmega before, and made him break out of the prisons on the warship they were being transported on before. He explained that, it seemed to make him act against his will, and that he has little to no control over it. It seemed to appeared after he had direct contact with Unicron via a mind link of some sort. Dr Wily and Light were doubting this, untill Anna and Zhang He both confirmed this, with Zhang He giving details of the Prison incident, and Anna with the Traverse Town one.

"Hmm…so something is forcing you against your will to do these things? But what though?" Wily said.

Darkmega finally spoke for Chad, noticing Chad had seemed to have forgotten…or was made to, miss one hint to what it was. "I know what it is Doctors. It's another me. A Dark Soul. It's inside Chad. I knew it the moment I saw it in Traverse Town. It was insane and mad, trying to kill me. I think Unicron might've put it into him somehow."

Dr Wily looked surprised at this information. "Are…you saying Unicron might know of Dark Souls? But, that was a recent creation, how would Unicron get his hands on one to give to Chad?"

Then, a new voice spoke up, one that Anna, Zhang He, Darkmega and Chad knew. It came from the other side of the bed, behind Chad and Darkmega. "You call it a new name, put it into a data chip, claimed the Wily family made it. but it's been around for millions of years. Created by a man who couldn't understand it himself, until it was too late."

They all shot round to look, and standing there, from out of nowhere, was Sephiroth, looking away a little, eyes closed for the moment.

Dr Light was not happy with the intruder. "Who the devil are you!? Explain yourself at once!"

"Humph. The name, is Sephiroth." That alone, made Wily and Light pale slightly.

"S…Sephiroth? Hojos…Son? Sephiroth?" Was all Wily managed to say.

"What he believed was his son, yes. So, Chad…how does it feel?"

"What?" Chad answered with.

"How does it feel, to be a puppet, in the end? All that effort you made, to collect Holy, the Black Materia…all for nothing. Every item, now belongs with Unicron. Thanks to you."

Chad quickly checked his pockets, feeling for the two stones, Holy and Black….they weren't there…that meant he, sent them to Unicron, along with the Matrix. Sephiroth opened his eyes, and looked at Chad.

"The old man that saved you. He stopped me from giving them to Unicron, but he couldn't stop you. That faith he has in you is worthless. You've brought the doom of those you care for with this."

Sephiroth noticed the slight confusion with the Docs, and decided to explain. "This boy here, is connected to a destiny that's suppose to lead him to defeating Unicron. He went out across this world to collect the three items that could easily lead to Unicrons downfall. But instead, thanks to his lack of judgement and understanding on what Unicron put into him, the boy has spelled your doom…unless…"

Chad listened carefully to this next bit. Was Sephiroth going to give them a hint or something?

"…Unicron chooses to be merciful for your, unwilling, help Chad, and grants you a chance to live on a world he'll spare, along with those around you that you wish to save. The Judgement from the Heavens is not without mercy. If he offers it, I suggest you just accept it and know that soon, this world will vanish."

Darkmega scoffed at the idea. "Yeah, like we'll accept his offer!"

Sephiroth looked at him now. "You are but a coward inside Darkmega. You can't hide this from me. I know if Chad said yes to Unicrons offer, you would follow it gladly with no hesitation. A 'Dark' Soul believes in self survival over anything."

Then, he focused on Anna. "And of course, accepting it allows you a chance to live with Anna, does it not Chad? You can express what you feel towards her, without the fear of Unicron looming over you."

He hit Chad right on a spot, as Anna looked at him now, wondering what Sephiroth meant, but was guessing easily, as her face went a little red…to live with Anna…would, would Unicron really allow him that?

"…This is, if, he gives the offer to you though. I can't promise he will, you'll know when you're alone no doubt. I suggest you just take it. You're not worth anything more, now. Your destiny has gone down the only path it could…to the beginning, of a new era of Chaos." With that, Sephiroth vanished…his words dug deep into Chad and the others.

Chad just sat there, silently…Sephiroth had a way of getting him to listen. Was this really it? All he could do was wait? Wait for Unicron to offer mercy?

Dr Light, and Wily, now understood the situation…and knew that whatever they had planned for Unicron was rendered mute at this point. They now understood what was going on with Chad…and that he had pretty much boned them big time. But they weren't going to quit. Dr Light looked at Albert. "…Regardless of what's happened, we need to try and figure out a way to defeat Unicron. Gaia VII is in danger. Rufus will sooner or later form a movement with the Galactic Empire and the United Federation of Planets…we can't just lay down and let things go downhill."

With that, Dr Light left, getting on the Com-Link to inform Optimas Prime of what was going on. Dr Wily sighed, then looked to Chad. "…Kid, don't pull a face that makes it look like things are finished yet. Even without those items, we'll fight it regardless…giving up hope now isn't an option. Especially since we're on the planet his aiming for."

Soon he left. Darkmega thought about things for a moment, as Anna sat down with Chad now, close to him. "…Chad?"

Chad spoke in a weak voice, looking at his hands…the truth of the situation grinding in his mind. "It's….it's all my fault. I had them, the Materia. We went through that task of getting them for nothing now…I can't stop what's inside of me from doing what it wants. I can't stop it from helping Unicron…I'm sorry Anna."

Darkmega shook his head a little, showing concern at Chad. "Hey, it isn't over. The docs are right, we can't give up. I didn't get repaired by them just to be Unicron's snack. It doesn't matter if you got a Dark Soul or not. You can't just stop because of it!"

Chad didn't answer. He didn't want to be near Darkmega. The idea his got something like him inside…it turned his stomach. He got up, and abruptly left the room, in a hurry with Anna shouting for him to wait…he didn't. he just went as quick as he could. Needed to get out, get some fresh air, clear his head…as he pretty much run down the corridors, hopped onto a lift, which took him down, and brought him to the village that was underneath the airport section of Junon Harbour, he found himself at the polluted sea front, the stone beach, of the town.

He sat there, near the sea, it's green water, the Sun blocked out, with only hints of it's light coming from beyond the ceiling of the airport above….he just waited. Hoping now that maybe, Zuo Ci or someone would help him out, point him in a direction that would save him and the others…

He closed his eyes for a moment, to allow the sound of the sea to take him in, when, it was gone, and he heard nothing for a moment…before he heard the voice of it.

"**Excellent Chad. I knew you would not let me down in finding those three.**"

He shot his eyes open, and before him, was Unicron, it's mouth glowing, the light flowing out surrounding him. "…Unicron…"

"**I am not one without mercy, Chad. I have known for family for…many years. More so then you can know.**"

Chad cut him before he could speak anymore. "If this is about a goddamn offer for peace Unicron, letting me and the others live, then I swear to god I'll kick your ass! I'll-"

Unicron was now the one to cut him off. "**Do what? What can you do now? Nothing Chad. The point is, at this moment, you are nothing more then a fool for even thinking such. Nothing that the forces of this empire have will stop me now. What can you do to end me, if a fleet is nothing?**"

Chad stopped….

Unicron waited for a moment, then continued. "**I know you do not wish to follow my destiny any more then you have. That is why I offer you peace. You have done me a service. In return, yes, I will offer you, and those you cherish close to you, safety, from my coming. Let there be peace between me and your family for once, let the feud end.**"

"…those I cherish?"

"**Anna, Quickman…to name a few. I cannot offer everyone of that 'hero base' group you are with. Many of them deserve nothing else then to be my nourishment. I will give you untill 5 hours of my arrival, to decide your fate and those around you. A fair chance to consider my offer, is it not?**"

"…and Richard? And this Dark Soul you shoved into me?"

" **I shall dispose of it. And Richard…I still require his services. He will eventually join you. Think about this carefully Chad…I won't offer it again, once this time is up.**"

Chad, wanted to just accept it. The facts were there. Unicron now had the winning cards. The GF, them, they had nothing. But he couldn't make himself. He felt he needed the time, to think it over, so he can accept it wholeheartedly. "…you could just make me say yes via the Dark Soul…I might not know what's going on untill it's too late…why even offer this when you can trick me, like you did already?"

"**Then I shall silence it. Seal it inside of you. So long as I remain, it will no longer torture you.**"

That sounded good enough. And before he knew it, he felt, hot inside for a moment, in his head, before the feeling vanished…most likely that was Unicron doing what he said he would. "Alright…give me time then."

In a second, Chad found himself back on the beach, sitting at the precise point the was before…and begun to think carefully.

On one hand. He could walk away from this. Just have Anna, Quickman, Roll, a couple of others come with him, and leave without the others knowing. Go to a planet, lush and free, make a life for themselves….it sounded all good…

But would Anna forgive him? Roll? Would those he would have to leave behind forgive him? Their deaths would be on his mind, the moment he knows about the destruction of Gaia VII, no doubt hearing about how hard the Federation fought for this world, only to fail…

And then there was Richard. Knowing he would be a doll to Unicron, knowing that he would continue to serve that 'merciful' monster, until he was no longer needed…would Unicron, after what might be years, really let him go? Would he really allow one of his subjects off the leash that easy?

Then of course, would Unicron hold his end of this bargain his made to Chad? What if he decides he needs a new toy to use, and triggers the Dark Soul while Chad is living with Anna? Making him kill her for simple amusement, then sending him out to cause carnage? Unicron could easily turn his back on the offer his made, afterall, he made it.

Then finally…what if he resists? Says no? His ruining the chance Anna has at getting away from all this, the others as well. All he wanted from the start of going to the Hero base was for the odd small adventure, and to relax. Meet other people and beings, get away from Mobius, from Chaos…and now here he was, twisted into a larger destiny, and forced into a corner.

He begun to cry, lowering his head, and placing his hands over his face. He just didn't know what to do, where to go, what to decide. both directions he had left were harsh, dangerous ones, and he was stuck in the middle.

It must've been hours. Time flowed by, as he was there, the tide going out, the colour of the sky, as he could just see beyond the airport above, turned orange, meaning the sun was starting to set. He had long stopped crying. His mind was just blank. He couldn't think of what to do and now just waited for Unicron to call him once more, knowing he will sooner or later…saying yes to the offer, saying no…which one?

Then, he heard the sound of someone stepping over the stones, coming towards him. He turned his head and looked, and saw Darkmega, who sheepishly smiled at him a little, as he got close. "Hey…Chad…mind if I sit with you for a little while?"

Chad wasn't in the mood of saying something nasty to him, and simply nodded, before looking back at the sea. Darkmega walked over and sat down next to him, looking out at it as well.

"…Chad? Has Unicron talked to you?"

Chad nodded.

"Did he, offer you a chance of freedom?"

Chad nodded.

"What did you say to it?"

Chad was silent for a moment, then replied. "I needed time."

The Dark Net Navi looked down, thinking for a moment, then turned his head towards Chad. "Chad, you gotta say no, okay?"

Chad didn't look back at him, just staring at the sea. "Why? It's your decision to if you want to fight on Darkmega. You don't need me for that. Maybe I do need a break from all this. If Unicron finds us a nice planet to rest on-"

Darkmega sighed in annoyance. "Oh yeah, like he would. Lovely, green planets, filled with life. that's the sort he loves to snack on ya know. If he does put you on one with life, he'll just eat it eventually anyway. I think he'll dump you on a barren world instead, so then your out of his way. He'll let you live in peace then. Bet nothing in his offer said about a lush, live world, did it?"

Chad didn't say a word to that.

"Tch, thought not. Didn't work out the finer details. That's what he'll do. Toss you somewhere out of his way, where he'll have no interest in eating you, somewhere isolated, with little to no life, letting you struggle to survive along with those you take to suffer with you…IF anyone wants to go."

The boy just turned his head away from the sea, showing the back of his head to Darkmega. "Anna would. So would Roll, Quickman.."

"Would they Chad? Would they? Would they really want to just up and leave, having the deaths of this world, and countless others hanging on their heads when they could try and die to save it all? I got the memories of Hub remember. I know they'll fight on, they would let you leave all on your own. Hell, I'm gonna stay and fight. That says alot."

Chad was getting annoyed with him now at last. "Why would you stay? You're a villain. A Dark Soul, just plead to Unicron to work for him and I'm sure he'll sign you up. Hell, I can suggest to him to take you in if you really want. Least then you'll be out of my hair…"

Darkmega took an offence to that. "Oh, oh that's how you feel still huh? I gave the message about Unicron, I saved your girlfriends ass at the cliffs, I helped you save YOUR ass at Traverse Town from being corrupted completely, and this is how you act? Pfft, at least Anna thanked me for both times. All I got from you is a glare and silence."

"You didn't have to-"

"No I fucking didn't have to do anything, but I did. I did because….because…" that was it now. "Because I want to survive. I want to help. I want help stop Unicron. I want to see this end."

Chad slowly turned his head to that he was facing Darkmega, glaring right at him. "Oh? What's with the change then? Got some emotions in your system other then hatred and cruelty?"

"Yes actually asshole. I do have. I don't know where the hell they came from. But since I got repaired, I've been…feeling more then I should have, alright? I felt the need to help Anna, a need to help you! I came out here because I got worried about you when I figured out where you went. Anna's been looking around in Junon for you. I felt sorry for her, that she was searching for you. When, now I see, you're sitting here, worrying over what to do with Unicron when the answer is obvious! We, fight him!"

The burst of emotion from Darkmega, from his voice, to his eyes, was different from what Chad expected…Darkmega was telling the truth. He was gaining emotions, and right now, he was trying to convince Chad to stand up to Unicron. "…Darkmega…"

Darkmega stood up, looking down at Chad. "Goddamnit man! You didn't call it quits with me! Why the hell are you even thinking it with Unicron! Sure it's a step up from me, but it's fight worth doing!"

Chad now was standing up, the way Darkmega spoke to him right now, it made him feel like he was the dirty coward out of them two. "All I want is peace Darkmega!"

"Then work for it Chad! You want it! I want it! We both want it! We need to just keep fighting for it!"

"YOU want peace!?"

"YES I WANT PEACE! Fuck's sake Chad! I don't want to be swallowed up by Unicron! I want to live to see another day! Get a chance at living! Letting go of the past I made with that goddamn war! I need to correct the mistake of helping with awakening Unicron! I need to stop him and Richard! I know I sure as hell didn't make him get controlled like Sephiroth said! And I never shoved Dark Chips into him!"

"Bullshit!" Chad said it like he meant it, but a new possible thought come into his mind…if Unicron planted a Dark Soul into Chad…then perhaps he did to Richard.

"It's the truth!" was all Darkmega said now. He was getting ready for Chad to take a swipe. He was afraid of it, to be honest, but he wasn't going to back down.

Chad stood there, glaring at Darkmega, unsure of what to say…when a new voice spoke to them, both they knew. They heard his footsteps on the pebbles, as he got close to them, coming from behind. "Darkmega speaks the truth, Chad Malyan."

…it was Zuo Ci.

Chad turned to him, as did Darkmega, who quickly said "Hey, You're that old guy that saved me. I recall your face…" his mind flashed back to when he was critically wounded on Zebes, with two limbs missing, dying slowly…the figure he saw, was Zuo Ci.

Chad was shocked. "Wait, you know Zuo Ci? He saved you?"

Zuo Ci nodded. "Indeed I did. I know of what was happening to Darkmega, and what caused it to occur. That is why I allowed him to redeem himself. And he has, so much so, it is he, who is willing to fight, instead of you."

"But, Zuo Ci…the three items I needed to stop Unicron, they…they…"

Zuo Ci smiled sweetly. "They belong to Unicron now, and he will keep them instead of destroying them. Overconfidence, is a weakness he often has. They are still a weakness, the key, to defeating him. And the way you can gain them again, and use them to defeat him, is with a key…or more precise." Then, appearing in his hands from nowhere almost, were two marble like orbs, glowing light green, both as big as tennis balls. "With these keystones."

He walked over to them, and gave one to Chad, and one to Darkmega. "These are required, for when you encounter the Black Materia and the Holy Materia. Unicron knows that they are what will endanger him, but he does not understand what, precisely, they hold to defeat him. The materias themselves, are worthless…inside of them, what is in them, is what you both need. With these keystones, they will absorb the power from within each, and grant you both each a unique energy, which will aid you to defeat Unicron, and those that work for him."

Chad was surprised that Zuo Ci had this ready, but then he remembered about the Matrix of Leadership. "But what about the Matrix? That's another item that's suppose to be a weakness."

"That, will lead to his downfall completely. The energy within the Matrix, once set free, will send power surges throughout Unicron, destroying him from within…the fact he has it now, has made your job a little easier on getting it inside of him."

"…Damn old man, this is just the ticket we need! Thanks!" Darkmega answered with, smiling away.

"You and Chad must work together, from now on…Light, and Dark, Life, and Death, must go hand in hand, to defeat the greater force that threatens you all. You and Chad, your fates are tied together, far more then either of you know. If one of you falls, before you find the Matrix to end this…then the Universe, is doomed."

That got Darkmega's mood down a notch. "Wow, thanks for, making it seem like a much more hefty task then it already is."

"Not only that, you will have to find your own way to get inside Unicron…I trust you will find a way. I have faith in you." with that, Zuo Ci smiled…and vanished, in a flash of white.

Darkmega sighed. "Great. That too. Neither can die, and we gotta find a way inside Unicron. This is gonna be fun." the last bit was filled, with sarcasm, something that gave Chad a smile at long last.

"Oh wow. The emotions and feelings have kicked up a notch in you haven't they? Maybe working with you won't be as hellish as I thought." he ended with a small chuckle.

Darkmega smiled back at him. "Heh…" then, he turned and looked out at the sea. "Ya know, I'm actually a little bit excited about this now. Now we got a chance with these…Keystone thingies." looking at the marble orb in his hand. "The idea of taking down the planet eater. Gonna be an hour to remember."

Chad nodded, as he too, looked to the sea. "Things are alot more clearer now too…I know what I wanna do. Kick some ass. Take some names, and see Unicron explode."

Darkmega gave the Keystone to Chad. "Hey, you got pockets. Hold it for me." Chad nodded, and put both his and Darkmegas Keystone away. "Ya know Chad…if this all goes wrong, we're fucked. This'll be the last time we'll see anything calm."

"Yeah. I know. It's a big gamble we're doing. But hey, if we are gonna die, I'm taking Unicron with us. I'll be damned if he gets outta this a-ok."

Darkmega smirked, then turned toward Chad, putting his hand out for him to shake. "How about this for a deal? If either of us do go down, the other goes on a rampage inside Unicron, trashing him as much as possible? Till the moment we finally die?"

Chad laughed a little, then finally, shook Darkmega's hand…a large step for Chad for his feelings for Darkmega. He finally begun to see him as a friend, no more of an enemy like before. Today has made him understand. "Alright, you're on. This is gonna be one battle to remember."

Soon, Darkmega and Chad went back into Junon, and their destination, was to find Dr Light and Wily…as he went, he heard Anna call his name, running up behind him, and as he turned around, hugging him tightly, with Zhang he quickly coming up to them as well. No doubt they were still looking around, and just spotted him going up the corridor. "Oh Chad! There you are! I thought you left us!"

"Anna, Anna, it's okay, I'm not going anywhere…not now after I got my act together." he was thankful for the hug…it was nice.

Anna looked up into his eyes. "I, I just thought you wouldn't come back, I thought you left this world or something."

Chad held her close. "It's alright Anna. I'm just going to find Dr Light and Wily. I found out a way to end this. To stop Unicron and-"

She kissed him.

His brain went dead.

It was a quick kiss, but it was enough, as she held eye contact with him afterwards. "Whatever, whatever it is you're going to do, promise me, you won't just up and leave like that again. Don't leave me again."

He just nodded and quietly said "Y-Yeah, of, of course…" with that, Anna let go of him, and with nudging by Darkmega, they both continued on to find the docs.

Darkmega was smirking again. "Soooo…finally classed as a girlfriend, boyfriend relationship huh?"

"Quiet you."

* * *

To the residents of Gaia VII, in Midgar, Junon, all the small towns and such, it was very unusual to hear from the few allowed travellers that were arriving this evening that over 147 ships, from the United Federation of Planets, Klingon Empire, Romulan Star Empire, Galactic Empire, Rebel Alliance and their own Galactic Federation, had been spotted in orbit of Gaia VII. Rufus had refused to inform the population about Unicron's destination. You don't need mass panic during all this.

It was now about 10pm. In Junon, in one of the Meeting rooms, one of the biggest, with windows at one end like the others, a red carpet covering the floor, a large, rectangle shaped table in the middle, on the ceiling above, a silver camera like device, a holographic projector, was seen aiming towards one of the walls, metal chairs surrounding, and on the walls, were the flags of the GF hung proudly. The windows showed the starry sky, with the moon, on it's lunar cycle, being a half moon.

Sitting at the table. At one end, was Rufus Shinra. Next to him, was Robotnik and Master Chief. Down one side of the table was, missing one seat after Rufus, Admiral Ackbar, Princess Leia, Yoda, Darth Vader, his two officers Titus Klev and Marl Semtin. Behind them, were six storm troopers and six rebel officers. On the other side of the table, again, one chair gap, were Captain Picard, a fellow officer, known as Captain Maxwell, the Klingons K'Nera, a slightly elderly looking one, and Korris, much younger looking, finally sitting with them, were two Romulans, Alidar Jarok and Tomalak, a once enemy to Captain Picard. Behind them, Data and La Forge, two Klingons and two Romulans respectively.

The spare chairs near Rufus were for Dr Wily and Dr Light, but both were yet to turn up. Eventually, as everyone settled down in their chairs, and on the table were metal jugs filled with water and cups ready, two of his guards standing at the door after it was closed, Rufus finally decided to begin.

"Well then, you all know why this meeting has occurred…this is a universal crisis we're facing. I know you have called what you can to aid our Federation as this, danger has chosen us first for a target, and we're thankful. As of now, our numbers stand at 67 of my finest Warships I could call for, 23 ships from the United Federation, 18 from the Galactic Empire, 13 from the Rebels, 16 from the Klingon Empire and 10 from the Romulan Star Empire. 147 vessels. I had attempted to call for more, but in our current situation with the loss of Keaton, the High Ministers, and the severe defeat with the first battle with Unicron, people are hesitant to listen and fear the idea of facing him. Thank you."

Picard leaned forward, looking at Rufus. "We had attempted to call for others as well, but as we can all safely say, the time to assemble a fleet was short, and we could all only send what we could. We had tried to ask the Cardassians for aid, but they simply refused. Thankfully-" turning to the Romulans. "-our call to the Romulan Star Empire had not gone unnoticed."

Tomalak nodded a little to Picard. "We know of the stories of the Planet Eater Unicron. To allow him to run rampant, even in territory that is not worth our time, would be a grave mistake. To end him now is beneficial to all parties."

"Agreed. This menace must be crushed as soon as possible. But as you had given to us in a report Rufus, Keaton had deployed over 90 warships to try and defeat Unicron, and it ended in failure. We do not even have double that number." Darth Vader said, in his haunting, machine tone.

The Klingon K'Nera laughed. "HA! The fool did not have this alliance with him! We are more then a match for that machine! Our combined might will easily destroy it!"

Rufus shook his head. "In what we gathered from scans from space stations that Unicron has past, he seems alot more prepared then what he appears. Even a barrage of our mixed technology may not halt his advance."

Data stepped forward. "Actually sir, as we checked the scans, we did notice that-"

The doors opened, and walking in, were Dr Light, Dr Wily, Chad and Darkmega. "Phew, sorry we're late everyone." Dr Light said, as he noticed the empty chairs near Rufus, and walked over to one, motioning Darkmega to follow him, and Wily going to the other chair, having Chad follow him, both eventually sitting down.

Rufus raised an eyebrow at Chad. "That's perfectly alright Doctor…I take it these, two were the reason you were late?"

Wily nodded. "Yes, in actual fact, from what they told us, they might know of a way to defeat, Unicron."

There was a murmur right away going around the table. Ackbar soon spoke up. "They know of a way? This is wonderful news indeed! Just the thing we need to hear right now! What is it?"

"It appears there are three items that Unicron is especially weak to. The items known as the Black Materia, Holy Materia, and the Matrix of Leadership according to what they said, the Materias will help them weaken Unicron, and the Matrix will destroy him from the inside, ending him for good."

As the people were talking positively about this, Wily continued. "There is a downside. They said it must be them, being the Net Navi behind Thomas, the man opposite me that is, and this boy here, to trigger it, which isn't too bad. The worse part, all three items are with Unicron right now."

BOY did that change the atmosphere in the room. The Romulan Alidar Jarok grumbled and said in disgust "Then you came in late only to say about a possible chance that is already lost? Worthless, completely worthless! How can we even expect to get those two you old humans have with you into the Planet Eater?!"

Chad wanted to smack that elf looking git. But held himself back. "Well we have something called a teleporter. I take it you must've of not heard of it before, surprising, with the size of your ears."

Data once again spoke, just as the Romulan stood up, and was about to say something. "If I may? In the current state, it would be impossible to commence any teleport into Unicron. Allow me to show you." with that, he got out his Tricorder device, pointed it towards the holographic projector, and it flickered on, showing an 2D image of Unicron on the wall, along with the vessels, near a planet, with a label near it 'GAIA VII'. Alidar Jarok soon sat down again, glaring at Chad at first, before focusing on the image. Data continued "I had prepared this once we gathered what data we could. Now-"

The image zoomed in on Unicron. "From what we have gathered. Unicron is emitting an Energy Frequency matcher. A device that allows him to simply absorb energy of any kind, so long as it matches the frequency. It will no doubt effect our Phasers, and your laser technology." it shows a few lines of energy going towards Unicron, and simply disappearing.

"We believe this effect is all over him, explaining way he had not received any damage from Keatons effort. The Galactic Federation also have Missiles, which would have got through this, but we have noticed Unicron has, all over him, small emitters, tower like devices, which when a physical object is close, sends out a wave of protective energy to block the weapon from hitting Unicron." the screen now shows several round ball like objects heading towards Unicron, and a line of energy comes out of him, destroying them before they hit him.

Princess Leia then decided to speak. "So, So what? Nothing can damage this thing? Are you saying it's worthless, this effort of ours?"

"No ma'am. Unicron is prepared with an effective defence, but I believe he was created for enemies that cannot find out this defence before he attacks. Let me explain. These towers, the emitters, are quite large, and are above the height the Energy Frequency matcher is formed around him. If we used our energy weapons on them. They would not be protected, and in effect, with them destroyed, We could use our explosive weapons, Photon Torpedoes, missiles, what we all have in that line of weaponry."

Robotnik then thought of something. "But what about it's offensive abilities? I've heard about it firing out white energy beams from it's mouth, and also creating this, energy wave, two different ones, that can either drag machines to their doom, or destroy them."

"I believe with what I mentioned, it is easy to disable this." Data said, before the image changed to showing the front of Unicron, and his mouth. "Unicron's main effect is to create fear from appearance. Fear would tell us to open fire at where the light of the attack is coming from, the center. This is incorrect. From the scans, high energy levels have been detected from the maw." The image highlighted Unicrons jagged mouth section orange, for them all to see.

"If we are effective enough by destroying first, the emitters around the mouth, then attack the lip section of Unicron, with enough damage, we will disable its only means of an offensive, effectively stopping from attacking us. Yet once we have destroyed that, it will most likely attempt to quicken its pace to the planet. We will have to find a way to disable it completely, to declare Gaia VII safe from harm."

Dr Light smiled a little. "Then with it disabled. We can find a way to send these two in and to handle the matter, putting the beast down for good."

Rufus nodded at this. "Then the task is simple. Cripple those towers, break his maw, grind him to a halt…then watch him get blown into oblivion. So long, as those Borg don't come back to help him."

Picard responded to this. "The Borg seem to be keeping to their own turf since they fled Unicrons presence 4 days ago at least. No doubt even they are afraid of what he can do."

"Good. Then, everyone, I suggest we begin planning our formations in the upcoming battle, to make it so we hit hard and fast, before Unicron gets a chance at anything."

Chad then quickly whispered to Wily. As Rufus started talking more. "So now they know we're needed…before they get into the boring stuff, can we go and get some rest?"

Wily nodded. "Yes yes, you and Darkmega can go."

Soon they left the meeting room. Chad decided to finally get some shut eye, before this battle begins. He said he farewells to Darkmega. And headed to his room, knowing he wouldn't get a lot of hours, but some was better then none right now. Once inside his room, he got undressed, and got into bed, getting comfy, and closed his eyes….soon, he begun to dream, there was Anna, waiting for him, in a red linen double bed. As he got in, he found out she was naked, and soon, he was kissing her, her body, touching her all over, it was just flickering images, but it felt nice…then, he felt that floating feeling again…and heard that voice.

"**Your time is up Chad. I require an answer to the offer.**"

Chad shot open his eyes. He was naked still, but now floating before Unicron, via the mind link no less. He glared at him. "Unicron…"

"**Well? I have granted you the time I said. And it is now up. What do you wish to do?**"

Chad stared into that mouth of light with new defiance. "I choose to fight. As soon as we meet Unicron…I will end you…"

Unicron chuckled at this bold answer. "**End me? You cannot even do a dent to my vast power.**"

Chad smirked. "Your all too confident, aren't you Unicron?"

"**It is my destiny to succeed here. To begin destroying life, to wipe out those that are unworthy in my presence, and begin a new reign of my own.**"

"That ain't gonna happen. Not with me around, not with everyone else that'll stand up to you to take you down a notch. It's your hours that are numbered Unicron. You're just too much of an overconfident moron to know it!"

Then, an eruption of light burst from his mouth, followed by a roar of fury, blinding Chad slightly for a moment. "**Do not insult me boy! When I arrive at Gaia, I shall make sure to devour that planet slowly, and enjoy the nourishment I'll get out of it. And as for you, I'll make sure your 'friend' that I have, will kill you slowly, and painfully, for mocking me…**"

"You can try Unicron, but I'll beat you, I have allies, those I know that need me to take you down, and I'll do it!"

Then, Unicron growled darkly. "**Those, were his, words before…you dare speak them to me…Get out of my sight…**"

Chad was baffled by those words, but soon enough, he found himself awake, in his bed, back at Junon. The clock on the wall showing it was half past three in the morning, and he heard a voice coming from his Com-Link. It was Wily. "Goddamnit Chad, get your ass up! You're required at the Junon Airport! Right now!"

Chad moved himself out of his bed, yawning, and picked up the Com-Link. "I heard ya, I heard ya, I'll be right there…"

* * *

Chad soon journeyed out to the airport section of Junon, where the planes and shuttles of the GF were docked. Standing outside, near one of the helipads, was Dr Light, Dr Hikari, Dr Regal and Dr Wily. With them as well, was Captain Picard, and Darkmega. It was a tad chilly outside, but other then that…the night sky looked lovely, for a night before a planet eater swallows this world, that is.

Chad walked over, wondering what they wanted.

"Ah Chad. I wanted you here so I can explain what's going on. Due to being needed for a rather important task, I sending you and Darkmega aboard the USS Enterprise. It's more agile then any GF vessel, and if the situation requires a quick move in to teleport then escape, a UFP vessel is a better option." Wily said, smiling at Chad. "This means you'll be working with the Captain here."

"Oh right. 'kay." Chad responded with, stepping over to where Picard was and then shaking his hand. "Hi there."

"Pleasure to meet you Chad Malyan. Jean-Luc Picard's the name. I'll be the one taking you and your group to Unicron when the time comes."

"…My group?" Chad looked at Wily, then Light, who told him. "Chad, we can't just let you and Darkmega here go inside Unicron alone. So we asked for volunteers from our Hero Base members to come with you. They've already been teleported up."

"Doc, I don't think we need a team to handle us. Just let me and Darkmega go in. everyone else can just sit here in Junon and pray to Primus we get through and destroy him."

Dr Light smiled, shaking his head. "Chad, it's better that you have companions should you get ambushed inside Unicron. With the size that he is, we have no idea what he has in store for you."

Chad knew he wasn't going to win with the docs, turning his focus to Darkmega. "So, ya ready to make this a time we ain't gonna forget?"

Darkmega simply gave him a thumbs up, as Picard press on his communicator badge. "Picard to Enterprise. Three to beam up."

In orbit of the Gaia VII, were the groups of vessels, all from their distant empires, all seem to be keeping to their own groups for the moment. The Enterprise was close to two of it's fellow vessels, a Nebula Class called the USS Phoenix, the one Maxwell belonged to, and a Miranda class ship, the USS Fable. The ships were all adjusting their defences and arming themselves for the soon coming conflict. They knew that if they screw up here, they won't be going home.

Soon, Chad, Picard and Darkmega appeared in one of the Enterprises transporter rooms. Picard lead them out of it, and into the corridor, leading them to one of the lifts of the ship. "First things first. I suggest you get to know who is in your team. We've allowed them to rest in Ten-Forward… The ships answer to a bar, dining area and the such to you. We couldn't fit two of them in there though, so instead their just in the cargo bay. I think we'll head there first."

As they got on the lift, Darkmega had already guessed who the two in question are. "I take it they are robots? Huge, bulky, can transform into stuff?"

Picard looked a little confused at the last part. "What?"

"It's a gift of theirs. Relax."

Once they got to the cargo hold. There, waiting patiently, were Optimus Prime, and Soundwave. Megatron had chosen to send Soundwave instead of coming himself, trusting his companion on dealing with the matter without his presence. That, and he didn't like the idea of going on such a small vessel.

Chad looked a little worried on seeing them. "Oh, hey Optimas…listen, about the Matrix…"

Optimus Prime simply waves his hand dismissively. "Chad, Dr Light has already informed me of what has occurred with you. I'm coming to assist to not only stop Unicron, but to take back the Matrix he forced you, to steal from me."

"Alright. Thanks for not being pissed off about it." Chad was relieved about that. Soon they moved on, and walked their way to Ten-Forward. In there, was very few of the Starfleet officers, talking with the team that Dr Light and Wily managed to form up. They were Roll, Blues, Ridley, who was seen sitting near the bar of Ten-Forward, talking to their bartender, a coloured humanoid female called Guinan, Megaman, Quickman, Mr T, Jak and his furry companion Daxter, Link, Samus, Ryu, Ken, Shadow, Sonic, Xiahou Yuan, Xiahou Dun and finally, standing in one of the corners, watching them all, with his Lunar Spear leaned on the wall next to him, Lu Bu.

"…well okay it's not as large as I expected really. And…is that Shadow?" was all Chad said, before he slowly walked over to where Shadow was. Darkmega decided to see his Light Self, just to make a little conversation if anything. Picard thought it best to just head up to the bridge.

Shadow saw Chad coming. "Humph, well if it isn't Chad Malyan. I heard we gotta make sure you and Darkmega don't die on us."

Sonic was with him. he chuckled to what Shadow said. "Hey, it's not like we really need to babysit them. Besides, Chad can hold his own. We'll have our own fun while his busy."

Chad smiled. "Heh. So Shadow? When did you get here? More precise, why are you here? I thought you wanted to stay on Mobius and stay working with 'Team Dark' as you so named yourselves."

"I still am working with them, Just your dragon friend over there got our team leader to change sides from the GF to you lot." motioning at Ridley.

"…what'd he offer her? Free booze and snacks?"

Shadow just stared at him like he was retarded.

"Alright alright, I know what Rouge always wants Shadow. I was joking."

Shadow didn't see the funny side of it, and just walked over to where Ridley was. "Eh, still see he can't relax at times can he Sonic?"

Sonic chuckled, then someone else joined Chad and him, Roll. "Hey Sonic, Chad."

"Hey Roll-ROLL!?" it suddenly hit Chad she was present here. "The hell you doing here?!"

Roll was taken aback a little. "Wha? Well, to help of course."

"Roll this is gonna be dangerous. I can't have you getting in trouble. Go back to Junon and wait for us to come back."

"Huh? Why?"

"Look Roll, I can't have my friends be put in danger alright? This could be very risky. I can't have you get hurt."

Sonic spoke up. "Hey! You're saying I'm not your friend or something? You didn't get all uppity with me being here!"

Chad quickly shook his head. "No no no no! I mean I don't want friends who…" he looked at Roll, and could see she was beginning to catch on with what he wanted to say. "…who, ya now, can't, sorta, handle themselves. I mean you're awesome Sonic. You're perfect for this. But Roll here is a…well….a girl."

Oh dear. Roll was frowning at this remark. "And what about Samus then?"

Chad had to quickly think a way around this. "I…Well…ya can't tell she's a girl in that suit ya know. So….kinda…not counts? I mean, well, you can't really see she got tits, and you know, without the appearance of tits she could be guessed as a guy…not like I am saying a girl needs tits to be CLASSED, as a girl, because that's like saying you're not a girl, because you don't have hardly any-"

Smack. A slap right across the cheek, before Roll huffed and walked back to Mr T and Blues. Chad was there rubbing his face where she hit. "ow…that…didn't go too well did it?"

All Sonic replied to that was, with a lick of sarcasm, "Ya think einstein?

Ridley was sitting at the Bar, when Shadow walked over and joined him. Ridley had just got a cup of whisky, just to have a little something before they suffer, and had a drop it before Shadow came over…and was already complaining.

"The hell is this? This ain't no alcohol."

Guinan sighed. "It's called synthohol. I take it you never heard of it in your area of space?"

Ridley shook his head. "Nope, and I'm glad we don't use it. Ugh, tastes like shit."

Guinan was amused at the colourful language, then looked at Shadow. "Anything you want?"

Shadow shook his head. "No, I'm good."

As Ridley dared another gulp of their whiskey, Guinan looked over to where Chad is. "So, that's Chad Malyan huh?"

Shadow nodded. "That's him."

"Hmm…no purple hair like I thought he would…nor blond for that matter…but he does have that feeling around him."

Shadow looked at her oddly. "….Excuse me?"

Guinan smiled at him. "Oh it's nothing. I've met a few relatives of his before. that's all."

Before Shadow could inquire about these relatives, Ridley spoke up. "Okay, that does it! I can't drink anymore! Fuck synthohol! Woman, you got any ALCOHOL related drinks?"

"As a matter of fact, I do. Would you like some?"

"Hell yes! And for my buddy Shadow here too!"

Shadow just sighed.

Chad after saying bye to Sonic, headed over to where Lu Bu was, waving at him, then putting his hand out for Lu Bu to shake. "Great to see someone like you is coming along, how's it been the last two years?"

Lu Bu looked down at Chad, keeping his arms crossed, showing he had no intent of shaking hands. "You better pull this off, boy. You fail, then Unicron will win."

"Can't even shake someones hand? Might not get the chance again if this all goes wrong." Chad responded with.

"I'll lend you and the others my strength for the coming battle. Nothing else. Leave me be to think."

* * *

On the bridge, Picard had sat down in his chair, looking to the main view screen, seeing the other ships. "Mr Data, has Rufus arrived on his Flagship, Galactica?"

Data turned around on his seat and nodded. "Yes Captain. It appears most of the fleet are now prepared to move out and intercept Unicron. We are just waiting for his order."

Riker shook his head a little, looking at his captain. "We're trusting two people, to stop something that huge once we disable it a little? What if they fail? What if they can't?"

"Well Riker, should they fail, we'll have to stop Unicron before he starts eating. that's all we can do." was Picards response.

Soon, a beeping sound was heard coming off Data's control panel. "Sir, Rufus has sent the signal. The GF fleet has begun to move."

Picard took a deep breath, then nodded. "Order our fleet to follow suit, then begin to follow the Galactica, nice and slow."

Every vessel, every warship, heavy cruiser, what was above Gaia VII, begun to depart from orbit, following suit the GF warships, all heading to their target, to the one they have to stop, lest they want him to begin coming to their worlds, and eating their people.

Unicron.


	16. Unicron: Matrix

Unicron, whilst drifting through space, was angered deeply once again. Those words of Chad echoed in him, those words the one that stopped him before spoke…

Primus…

He kept hearing those words, more and more, it was just drilling into him. Like as if it was a warning of what Chad is. Unicron tried hard to ignore it. He was ready to cause a new time of Chaos, and another Malyan won't stop him this time.

Then he saw them, quite far in the distance, but they were coming his way…the fleet. He chuckled darkly, noticing that it wasn't just a GF force coming at him. " **I see. Many of the forces in this Universe seem eager to try and stop me before I make them truly tremble. This will be entertaining for me.**"

As the fleet begun to close the gap between them and Unicron, he decided to give them a chance of changing their minds, his voice, as it boomed out, was heard on all vessels. "**Have you come to ask for mercy? Have I already caused you all to tremble before I make true havoc on your pitiful Universe? If you are here for mercy, you will need to offer me much, much more then just your submission. I am one that is hard to bargain with.**"

Rufus, on the Bridge of his ship, the Galactica, was just standing there, his hands in his pockets, as the rest of his bridge crew were looking out the windows, staring in horror at Unicron, as the light created every time he speaks, flows into the bridge. Master Chief and Robotnik were there, watching him. Rufus just smirked a little, then looked to Master Chief. "Chief. The moment I click my fingers, I want you to send the signal for all ships to open fire, including this one, then begin our planned circle formation."

Chief nodded, then walked over to one of the bridge crewman. Rufus had then got his hands out of his pockets, and motioned at one of the officers to open the communication channel. "Let me answer Unicron."

The person nodded, then after a moment. "Cha-Channel is open sir."

Rufus walked forward, towards the windows. "Unicron…the infamous Planet Eater from the time of Primus. Once again, alive and kicking in our territory. You're speaking to Rufus Shinra, of the Galactic Federation…it's new emperor, after you eaten the last puppet one."

The voice of the Planet Eater heard him. "** You speak of the last fleet to stand in my way, don****'****t you? So what will you do? Plead? Offer your servitude to me? I am not without mercy, human. With the right sacrifice, I am willing to make you worthy enough to be allowed to live.**"

Rufus smiled. "Please, spare me the mercy talk. I've come here to make history, not bow down to some scrap heap of the past. You're days are over Unicron. This Universe doesn't need something like you."

"**You are bold, to mock me. But you have chosen a set of foolish words. As now, I will first consume you, and those you have brought to this place, before I consume your world, and their worlds will soon follow after.**"

"You're welcome to try." with that, Rufus clicked his fingers.

The ships opened fire. All of them firing off lasers and Phasers alike, rushing forward, striking the giant machine planet before them. Unicron didn't seem to mind their effort, but failed to notice what they were aiming for, as a lot of the weapons fire did miss their targets, some hit, destroying several of his many shield emitters.

Soon all the ships begun to either turn slightly to the left or right, splitting up, and slowly, combined with the lightshow they were causing with their constant barrage of fire, surround Unicron, destroying more and more of his shield emitters. Eventually the ships started to pass each other going around Unicron, and he was getting ready to deal with these bugs.

His mouth shined brightly for a moment, before it unleashed several white beams at the alliance of ships. Most of the beams hadn't been aimed well, but one hit a Romulan Warbird, blasting right through, pretty much decapitating, the head section of the ship, effectively disabling it, while another struck a Star Destroyer of the Galactic Empire, tearing it a massive hole through it, causing it to drift for a moment, the sheer power of the energy damaging all it's systems and causing them to shut down momentarily, before they were able to stabilise themselves, and get back into the fight.

This is when the Galactic Empire, the Rebel Alliance and the Galactic Federation unleashed more annoyances to Unicron, deploying their combined might of TIE fighters, X-Wings, Y-Wings and the GF's own little combat ships, known as Lamadas.

Starfleet and those from it's part of the Universe didn't really have such small combat vessels, but their cruisers and such were fast enough, as a Klingon Bird of Prey vessel, is nimble enough to just evade a energy beam from Unicron mouth, just the edge of the beam hitting it's shields, as he unleashes a second wave, letting the energy beam hit a GF warship instead, right in the middle of it's length, and ripping right though, tearing it in half.

By his third wave of energy beams at them, he was getting frustrated at the sheer amount of annoyances now swarming him. "**I see that I****'****ll have to force myself to eat a rather large starter, before my main course****…****.but there is just a little too much, I****'****ll have to break some of it down first.**"

The jagged maw begun to slowly open up. On the Enterprise, on red alert, Worf noticed something being detected on his stations computer. "Sir, we're picking up a large energy reading from Unicron! Much larger then previous!"

Picard quickly stood up. "Data, what's the status on those Shield emitters?"

"Many of them have been destroyed around the opening. Captain, I suggest we send this information to Rufus so we can begin phase two."

Then, firing out from it's mouth, was a huge, red wave of energy, it's trajectory was wide, and it caught at least 20 or so ships in it's wake, along with a good 80 or something combat fighters.

Darth Vader saw this from the bridge of his ship. "What's happening to those vessels?"

"We don't know lord Vader. Their armor and shields are rapidly being damaged. It's like a rain of laser fire." was one of his men's answers to the situation. Then they begun to see the effects of the energy, as the small combat fighters begun to explode, one by one, in rapid succession.

On the Enterprise, those on the bridge were watching in horror. "Captain! Two of our ships, the USS Kolto and the USS Babylon are caught within the energy attack! They're both sending out a distress signal, shields are beginning to collapse!" Worf called out.

"Data, can we somehow adapt our shield frequency to that energy and commence a rescue?" Picard said, hoping for a way to help.

Data shook his head. "I've already begun to scan the energy waves being created, it'll take some time before I can give any-"

They then a few of the GF warships, trapped in the emitted energy, explode violently, the shockwave of their destruction, along with the debris, taking out a Klingon battle cruiser with them, which was trapped in the energy as well.

Worf spoke up again. "Captain! The containment field of both vessels anti-matter are rapidly decaying by this energy assault! Their shields are gone!"

Before they could do anything, they saw the USS Kolto erupt, from the middle of it, blasting itself into fragments. It simply exploded from it's anti-matter going critical. A Star Destroyer followed suit in the list of ships being torn and destroyed by this attack.

Data's panel then begun to beep again, meaning a message had arrived. "Sir, Rufus has ordered for phase two to begin, while Unicron is distracted. We are to avoid contact with the energy at all costs while taking out the target."

Picard was quiet for a moment, knowing that leaving people to their fate just because Unicron is busy with them, is not in his nature…but this wasn't any normal battle. "Data, inform the fleet to start Phase two. Worf, arm all Photon Torpedoes and open fire once you can aim at the target."

"Yes sir."

All ships begun to move to the front of Unicron, being extra careful of his wave of energy, and as the helpless ships inside it are broken and destroyed, all ships opened fire. With Photon Torpedoes, Plasma Torpedoes, waves of matter missiles, Proton Missiles, all bombarding into either the mouth, or the outer rim of it, which was the target. Many of the shots entered the red wave of energy, exploding in moments, but others got lucky, and stuck the rim of the mouth.

With the combined wave of weapons fire, the rim was being plastered, smashed apart, the wave of energy was started to flicker and shut down, and by the fourth wave of this bombardment, just before the last two GF warships that were trapped in the energy wave exploded, the red wave of energy shut down, as the rim was pretty much destroyed. The jagged 'teeth' of it blasted apart, the vulnerable systems underneath them ruined.

Picard smiled when Data informed him "Captain. Energy levels of Unicron have dropped. It's offensive abilities have been disabled, as well as it's energy Frequency device. We are now able to transport people over."

"Good…Good. Riker, inform Chad and his companions that they'll be beamed over to Unicron shortly."

On the Galactica, Rufus smirked, knowing they had now defeated Unicrons means of attack. "Humph, a lot easier then I expected. Know thy enemy indeed…soon Picard will drop off that boy and Dark Navi, and this'll be all finished. This ancient heap from the past will be nothing more then a memory."

"**You underestimate me, Rufus.**"

Then…everyone on their bridges, their command posts…even in ten-forward saw it. The giant planet begun to change, to transform. From it, arms and legs appeared, the mouth sealed up and closed into the machine, and slowly, the planet changed into a complete body, with the outer ring it had in it's Planet form, morphed into demonic machine wings, and then, a head appeared on the body, it's crystal eyes glowing bright green, demon like horns appearing on it's head, it even had a metal like goatee attached, as it's now small mouth opened, as it spoke, once the transformation ended.

"**Since my arrival, to this Universe, I have avoided this form with this body. Only when Primus appeared, I have used a data projection of this, to face him. But now, with your arrogant belief that you have gained any victory here, I see no need to hide it. Behold, mortals, the true form of the Planet Eater, the Judgement from Heaven. Look upon it, and repent for your actions.**"

Chad was awe-struck. Staring at it, along with those in ten-forward. "Oh…my fucking god…"

Rufus, on the Galactica, appeared unfazed, but he was sweating. His no fear act was breaking a little. "…Inform all ships, prepare for combat, do whatever they can to stop him."

Picard was shit scared. "W…What the…"

Worf soon spoke. "Captain! It's energy levels are beginning to rise again!"

"Captain, if we are to transport Chad and his friends over to Unicron, we must do it now, before he activates the energy frequency device again. I have already locked on the only location that is habitable for any form of life inside of the Planet Eater. It is within the now Chest section" Data said, in his calm and matter of fact manner.

Picard nodded, and looked to Riker, who had quickly pressed on his Communication badge. "Riker to Ten-Forward, Chad's Group, change of plans. Whatever preparations you were doing are gonna have to be skipped. Beaming you all over right now."

Slowly, Unicron raised one of his arms, and clenched his fist. "**And now you see, the real form of the one that shall brush you aside, cleanse you from this Universe, and destroy those you wish to protect****…****prepare to face, your own dismemberment!****"**

His fist flew down, and smacked one of the Rebel Alliance warships into nothing more then debris, after a sudden explosion from it. All ships opened fire with everything they had, and quickly begun to move in an effort to avoid his assault, but already, Phasers and such were doing nothing, as he had activated his defensive ability once again. Missiles and such damaged him, but the damage was minor to his sheer size now.

Three Romulan warbirds attempted to do and hit and run move on Unicron, flying close and firing Plasma Torpedoes, all he had to do was clap his hands together, with them inbetween, obliterating them all without effort, and with the debris of them in his hands, as a large wave of TIE fighters and X-Wings came towards him, he flung the trash, the sheer speed of the flung debris smashed through the fighters.

He then grabbed one of the unlucky Star Destroyers, it's middle section in his hand, and crushing it, feeling an explosion occur in his palm, then threw the whole vessel, with the debris that came from the explosion, at a few GF warships, the collision of it crushing and blowing them up. He didn't seem fazed by the alliance, and appeared to be enjoying their hopeless effort to bring him down.

Well, not entirely hopeless, as the Enterprise was able to beam over something that may end him, end the monster.

* * *

"Double time People! Double Time! Gotta find the objects somehow before everyone outside is turned to space dust!"

The voice of Chad could be heard.

They had got inside the body of the beast. And were, right now, together, going as quick as they could, sticking close, within what seemed to a massive pink, metal corridor and floor, with dozens of small human sized holes in the walls and ceiling.

They didn't know where they were going, but time was not in their favour, and they knew it, so just, going, is the best option right now. "Chad, do you have any idea where Picard and the others dropped us off?!" Jak panted out.

"No, No idea guy! We just gotta keep moving and-oh shit!"

What provoked this kind of response was the fact just as they were getting close to the end of this huge corridor like place, reaching the end to see two routes, both other corridors of the same daunting size, they were met by the sight of Zerg coming down the left one…a swarm of them charging towards them.

Optimus Prime knew of the best idea for this. "Everyone head down the opposite one! Soundwave, let's seal it up!"

Soundwave and Optimus Prime stood together at the entrance to the Zerg filled corridor, as the others fled, and used their huge energy rifles, blasting the ceiling in, causing a ton of metal and wires to collapse down and crush a few Zerg that had got close, and blocking the rest. They then followed the others.

Once they got through the second one, they arrived at this circle shaped room, holes in the ceiling as before, with corridors leading off it in all directions, all above their entrances they just had strange symbols of an unknown language on, one had a huge stairway leading upwards at the end of it, the others seemed to be just corridors leading to more.

"Well which one?" Link questioned.

"I have no fucking clue. Personally I gamble on the stair one as it looks the most useful, but hell if I know if I'm right or not." Xiahou Dun answered with.

Then they noticed, coming down those said stairs, coming down from all other corridors but the one they came from, where more, and more Zerg. The numbers were ridiculous.

"Tch, it seems that Unicron knows something bad is in him and wants it remove by any means.." Lu Bu said, swinging his Lunar Spear to prepare for a fight.

"But we don't have time to handle this! We got to move on!" Roll responded with. Chad looked at the stairs, and just…got this feeling that's the right way.

"Optimus! Wanna do what you did before to stop the Zerg? On all the corridors BUT the way out and the stairway?"

Optimus Prime and Soundwave were already on it, taking out the ceilings as needed. "But we still gotta get through this wave coming!" Darkmega pointed out.

Shadow shook his head. "It's obvious some of us stay behind and keep our escape route safe, should anything go wrong. The rest of us run on." Chad didn't like the sound of it, but it was the best idea to go with at the present.

"Alright, I can Chaos Control me and another person, Shadow, you can too, Ridley can fly and grab a couple…everyone else…sorry about this, okay?" he got a bunch of nods in understanding.

"Relax Chad, we'll dispose of this annoyances while you're busy saving the day." as Xiahou Dun prepared his scimitar.

Chad grabbed onto Roll, and Chaos Controlled, Shadow grabbed Darkmega, sighing at the fact Chad chose Roll over what's important here, then Chaos Controlled, and finally Ridley flew up into the air, grabbed both Blues and Megaman, before flying down the Corridor leading to the stairs, over the Zerg, who tried their best to grab at the beings Ridley had, but no luck.

Megaman flinched every time a Zerg tried to jump at him, making Blues look to him. "Hub, relax alright? If they rip a limb off, you can always get it fixed."

Once he got to the stairs, he saw Chad and Shadow, with their companions before they teleported again, seeing a second wave of Zerg dashing down the stairs, Ridley had no choice but to flew upwards, using his spare claws and fireballs to blast any of the jumping Zerg that tried to attack him. Blues tried to help with a little killing as he flew with Ridley, firing energy shots at the Zerg.

The stairs, once the Zerg were past, seemed to just go on and on, until eventually, they arrived at what seemed to be a huge, and by huge, it was, hall. Around, high, high above on it's ceiling, were a multitude of tubes, red, white, green, pink, wall going through and hanging out of the ceiling, leading to somewhere beyond here. The walls were covered in wiring and electronics, with a few screens, all showing rapidly data, none of it in Galactic Basic or Pirate. Just…an unknown language, the floor was a shining silver metal, and at the other end of the huge hall, appeared to a small doorway, leading to whatever was beyond. As Ridley arrived, with Chad and Shadow appearing in the hall, a metal slab of a door slammed down on the way to the stairs behind them, cutting them off.

Ridley quickly dropped Megaman and Blues off with Chad, Roll, Darkmega and Shadow, before landing himself. "Damnit! We're isolated from the others!"

"It doesn't matter. They can handle themselves. Chad, we have to move on quickly. Unicron isn't going to slow down for us." Shadow pointed out.

Chad nodded in agreement, and got ready to run on, when, from the ground, not through the floor, just, outta nowhere, were veins, humanoid like blood veins, only a little larger, in the colours of red, purple and orange, dozens of them almost, growing out of nowhere, forming together and twirling upwards entangled, untill they were about the height of a human. They were twisted round, like as if they were hiding something, like as if they just formed a cocoon, then, they all glowed with red energy, and vanished…and standing there, was Richard, Dark Wolf in hand.

Richard looked a little different now. His skin appeared paler then before, his lips had gone a dark colour, and his eyes, had a hint of purple in them now. His hands, the veins in them, were showing clearly. "Chad…Everyone…so glad you can join me."

Chad quickly pulled his Blade of Darkness out. "Richard…what's happening to you? What the hell was with those vein things?"

As everyone quickly got themselves ready for a fight, even Roll, in hesitation, did so.

"Oh, those? Those are related to my new powers I've gained from Unicron…Zerg Veins. Quite useful. They can connect to your mind and help you teleport to most places. Can be used to choke and capture people too…" Richard was smirking at them all.

Darkmega was glaring at him for it. "You…"

"Ah, 'Master' Darkmega…it's been a long while, hasn't it? Look at me now. With each master I serve, my power only gets better, heh, even more so, with these. you can thank Unicron for helping me awaken their power easily for my use." then, he used his spare hand to pull up the sleeve of his arm holding the Dark Wolf, and glowing from it, with a Black Aura, and a White Aura…and as they could barely see, in his arm, were the Black Materia, and Holy Materia.

Chads eyes widened. "No…"

Richard then pulled the sleeve back down. "Heh. So, want to duke it out? All of you against me? that's a fair fight."

Shadow was about to move, when Chad raised his hand to signal to Shadow to not go in, then looked at his Blade of Darkness…then at Richard. "Guys, stay out of this. Richard, just you and me, alright? We'll settle this, and I'll break you out of Unicrons hold."

Richard laughed. "Alone? One on one? HA! You couldn't even survive against me when we last battled on Zebes! It was only thanks to others you lived!" with that, he closed his eyes…and suddenly, the Black and Holy Materia activated at once, and Richard, with their combined power, was covered in a dark grey aura, grinning madly.

"If you really want to die first though, I'll be happy enough to make sure that's the case!"

Chad held the Blade of Darkness close. "Richard, I know what I say isn't getting to you right now, we're inside Unicron, no doubt his power is keeping you from trying to snap out of it. But I promise you, and myself…I'll find a way to get to you, I'll stop this madness you're trapped in."

"Chad no! let us help you! Let's free him together!" Roll called out. All Chad did was shake his head slowly, before looking at her from the corner of his eye.

"No…No Roll, I got to…do this alone. I know it sounds crazy…it is crazy, but it's…" he knew why, and it was a selfish, foolish reason, covered with a justified act. That inability to beat Richard on Zebes alone is a bitter memory. To lose to a guy he kept beating in training…no matter how much he brushed it off, it was damage to a very well covered pride he held.

He remembered his words in the training room, back two years ago…each and every time he beat Richard, that feeling of winning, that confident boasting, it was all sounding like he was only playing around, but he enjoyed winning, he enjoyed the taste of victory. "…I have to prove myself against him, maybe, maybe it'll help free him."

"Bullshit! At least let me give you a hand!" Darkmega Protested.

"No Darkmega…everyone, stay back." Then, Chad rushed forward, swinging the Sword sidewards, only for Richard to easily block with the Dark Wolf, then headbutt him to knock him back a few steps and daze him for a moment, before pointing his spare hand forward, and firing out a grey beam of energy, which was powerful enough to knock Chad flying off his feet as it hit him square in the chest, making him fly back, and slide across the floor as he landed.

Chad forced himself up, and ran forward again, making it seem like he was gonna swing the sword just like before, but this time as he got close, he used chaos control, to appear to Richard's right side, and kick him in the gut. Except Richard just smiled, and from his spare hand, coming out from a hole formed on the palm of his hand quickly, were a bunch of Zerg veins, quickly wrapping around Chad's leg as it came up, stopping it dead in it's tracks.

"What the f-" was all Chad had time for before Richard flung him, using the veins around Chad's leg, across the room, letting go as Chad flew, and hit the ground hard with an almighty thud. The veins retracted back into Richard's palm. Chad was soon back on his feet, changing into his mobian form, and rolling up into a ball, soon enough dashing forward towards Richard, and as he got close, Richard fired off another grey beam, only for Chad to jump over it JUST in the nick of time, Blade of Darkness ready, glowing a bright orange. "EXPLOSION!" Chad cried out, before Richard brought the Dark Wolf up to block Chad's swing, without knowing what would happen.

The explosion, as the name hinted at, surprised the hell outta him, as he yelled in pain as he and Chad both catapulted backwards in opposite directions, from the resulting energy burst, both hitting the floor. Chad got himself up once again, noticing it worked, and was about to fire off a Chaos energy beam at Richard, when those veins returned from his palm, several of them at that, fired out, across the room, wrapping themselves around Chad's neck and arms, before he found himself being lifted off the ground, the slammed down into the wall behind him, then again, and again, over and over, each time yelling in pain, as Richard slowly walked over, seeing Chad drop the Blade of Darkness.

"Heheh. You can't do anything against me really. I've been improved more then you. Just admit it to me, and I'll choke you to death quickly, instead of this, slow, painful, treatment." those last words were said as each time Chad hit the wall, harder each time then before.

Chad tried changing back into human form to see if the veins might somehow let go…they didn't. As he found himself being brought forward again, then smashing into the wall once more, the two keystones fell out of his pocket, rolling away across the floor.

"Just a little puppet on strings now, heheheh." Richard was enjoying this so, so much, until a Dark cyber sword sliced through his Zerg veins, close to him, making those connected to Chad suddenly turn to dust, and Richard having to quickly jump back to avoid the second swing of that sword, made by Darkmega.

"Alright, sod what Chad wants! I'm gonna kick your sorry ass!" was all he said before disabling his Dark cyber sword and pulling out a Hi-Cannon, firing it a few times at Richard, who just easily dodged them by constantly jumping to the side, until he had to dodge, with a quick insertion of an Area Steal battlechip, a blast of energy from a Program Advance move, the Zeta Cannon, held by Roll.

"I won't let you help Unicron hurt others Richard!"

Richard sighed in pure annoyance. "Don't you guys listen to Chad here? Kinda ruined our one on one fun ya know…oh well never mind, I'll just kill you two as well!" with that, he dashed forward, swinging the Dark Wolf at Roll, who jumped back in shock, then was hit by the Grey energy beam, sending her flying back. Darkmega was then the target, as Richard turned and formed a Dark Cannon from a battlechip in his hand, and firing it, blasting Darkmega to the floor, then turned his focus back to Roll, as she had pushed herself up, and formed her buster, firing a few Roll arrows, Which Richard simply sidestepped.

He showed the palm of his hand to her, and fresh Zerg veins flew out, shocking her, before they twisted around her neck, choking her. Shadow decided to enter the fray, using Chaos Control to appear before Richard, just in front of him, in the air, to kick him in the head, only for Richard to predict this, and use the blunt side of his sword to smack Shadow out of the air, hitting the floor. He continued to choke Roll when he then saw Ridley come at him, letting her go to fire one of the energy beams at the Dragon, which were strong enough even for him to be winded by the impact of it, knocking him down. Blues had a charged shot ready and unleashed it, Richard just jumped over the shot, and again, used this new energy beam to knock the robot flying.

Megaman rushed into the fray, only for, as he swung a Wide Sword generated from a battlechip at Richard, to get punched to the side by him, as he easily stepped back, dodged the sword, then swung the hit. He then turned his attention back to Roll. Using another Area Steal to disappear and reappear near her. "As you can plainly see, I'm pretty much unbeatable, with this power out of the Materias. You are ALL finished. Failures against the best. And the first one to die, will be you…because lets face it, Girls scream the best before they die."

Roll looked in sheer terror, as Richard raised his Dark Wolf, then, was hit in the back by a Chaos Beam, making him stumble a little, before turning around, and seeing Chad standing once more. Chad had that boost of energy once again, when he saw Roll in danger, that was it, he was up, and had quickly given something to Darkmega. As for the Dark Navi, he was right next to Chad. "Hey, Richard. You said I'll be the first remember? Why not keep to it, or are you so brain dead that you quickly forgot?" Chad said, smirking.

Richard glared at him. "Fine! Then feel a full power energy shot from the combined power of the Black and Holy Materia!" He quickly put the Dark Wolf away, and brought his hands forward together.

Darkmega quickly whispered, with his hands behind his back. "Hey man, you sure this'll work? This is gonna hurt if it goes wrong."

Chad shrugged. "Wait and see for the results."

Richard unleashed a massive, wide energy Beam, flying towards the two, just missing Shadow, Blues and such, and as it got close, both Chad and Darkmega pulled out, in their hands, the Keystones. Chad kinda hoped lady luck would be on their side with this insane plan, as the beam got inches away from them.

Lady Luck was.

As the Beam made contact with the stones, they glowed brightly, and the energy beam spilt into two. One White, One Black, the white one flowing into Chad's stone, and the black flowing into Darkmega's. The other end of the beam, were it came from, was still flowing out of Richard's hands, the white from one, the black from the other, making the others watch in awe…and he couldn't stop it. "W…What the?! What the hell's going on?! What're you doing!?"

The beams slowly got brighter and brighter, the Chad and Darkmega heard the Keystones start cracking, worrying them. Richard couldn't move. And he felt that power of his start to drain, the power of the Black Materia and the Holy were fading away from him. And soon, there was the sound of crystals shattering, as the keystones exploded in their respective lights, blinding everyone for a moment.

…To Chad and Darkmega, they were surrounded by a bright light…and before them now, was Zuo Ci. Everyone else was gone it seemed. "Well done, both of you. Within the Materias, were spirits, that held the true power, of what they could give. The keys, the keystones, helped unlock their freedom, and now they belong to you…the Dragon of Death…the Phoenix of Life…"

He motioned to Chad. "The Life Soul." then motioned to Darkmega. "The Death Soul. When they combine, they can unlock the ultimate power. Remember this." and with that, he, and the light around them vanished.

Richard stumbled, and shook his head, getting his focus back, to only see that before him now, was Darkmega, covered in a Black aura, and Chad, covered in a White one, stunning him. "What the!?" he quickly noticed his grey aura was gone, and quickly pulled up his sleeve…to notice the Black Materia and the Holy Materia, were both gone.

"H…How in the…" he soon found himself getting a punch right in the face, from Chad, who Chaos Controlled from where he was, to Richard, knocking him flying over Roll, smacking the floor.

As he slowly got himself up, he found Darkmega appearing in front of him, Zeta cannon ready, and blasting him at point blank, the energy fired out was black, and much, much more powerful, making Richard cry out in agony, flying back once more, and smashing, hard, into the wall nearby, before hitting the floor face first.

"Hey Chad! Let's give him a double whammy to wrap it up!" Darkmega called out. Chad smiled, and jumped over Roll, and landed next to Darkmega. "Heh, why not?"

Richard weakly pushed himself up off the floor, snarling at them. "You….YOU!"

Both Chad and Darkmega pointed their hands forward. "Ready?" Chad asked.

"Ready!"

"LIFE BEAM!" "DEATH BEAM!"

Both of them fired their respective beams, one bright white, the other pitch black, flying at Richard, both hitting him at once, making him scream in agony, and causing a small explosion…which afterwards, Richard was seen on one knee, panting, clothing damaged, his skin, burnt a little from the intense energy, Dark Wolf on the floor.

Both Chad and Darkmega gave each other a high five, as Richard glared darkly at them, before Chad focused on him again. "Richard, we got ya. Just give up now alright? Come with us. We got the power we need back to defeat Unicron."

Richard weakly laughed. "No…it…it ain't over. Take him out if you dare, I don't give a damn. Next time, Malyan boy, next time, just you, and me…" with that, the Zerg Veins from before begun to appear, slowly covering him in a cocoon like state again, before they glowed red and vanished, him, along with them.

"…Richard…" Chad looked on, at the spot where Richard was, before turning around, focusing on Roll. "Hey, you okay Roll?"

She smiled weakly. "Yeah, yeah I'll be fine. But are you okay? What's, what's with the aura?"

"Oh, new power up to end Unicrons days." With that, he focused his mind, and was able to disable the aura, as did Darkmega.

Soon, the others recovered, and joined up with them. "Alright, now we can go and deal with Unicron! We can win this!" Megaman cheered.

"Hm, Pity you won't get to the device that can help you stop him." They all looked over to the door leading to wherever the tubes went…and there, was Sephiroth, sword in hand, the one who spoke, and near him, was Phantom, fully healed now, and looking as pissed off as ever.

Chad cursed. "Oh Primus Damnit! Not now Sephiroth! Seriously! We just beat one asshole slowing us down, we don't need another!"

"I'm afraid I can't simply, stand aside, while you ruin the destiny I have chosen to watch over. Even with your new abilities, they won't save you from me." Sephiroth said, looking at Chad and the others carefully.

Blues was quite worried about this. He heard tales of Sephiroth like everyone. "Oh man, him of all people…"

"Tch, worms, stand aside." a new voice declared. Chad and the others turned, to see Lu Bu standing there, near the sealed door, looking at them, then at Sephiroth. "Sephiroth…we meet again at last."

"Humph, if it isn't the old man, it's the one with the stupid feathered hat…" Sephiroth looked at Lu Bu in boredom. "I take it the old man made sure you kept a special eye out for me?"

Lu Bu begun walking forwards. "Lu Bu!? How did you get here!? Where are the others?!" Ridley quickly said.

Lu Bu didn't look at him as he gave the answer. "They're fine. They're holding their own against the Zerg and devices within Unicron…Sephiroth, since the days of Primus, I've been waiting to fight you again."

Chad was stunned by this. They knew each other? And from the days of Primus, over two million and something years ago? Then it dawned on him…Lu Bu is a Deity, that's all there is to it. And he was right.

Sephiroth took a few steps forwards, then stopped, getting his Masamune ready. "Lu Bu. Very well, I suppose I can't risk ignoring you. But you against me and Phantom. The odds are not stacked in your favour."

Lu Bu huffed, then look over at the heroes. "Chad, Darkmega! Leave here and go on ahead to settle things with Unicron. The rest of you can give me a hand with the summon!" then he turned back to Sephiroth. "I'll handle him."

Chad was unsure about this, but then remembered. Time was against them still. "Alright Lu Bu! You guys will be okay, right?"

Blues nodded. "We'll try to do a little better then we did with Richard, to say the least. Go on. Get going."

With that, Chad and Darkmega ran to where Phantom and Sephiroth were blocking their path, Chad quickly grabbing his sword on the way…and noticed, to their daring surprise, they were allowed past, Phantom only giving them a passing glare, as they heading into the next room. Blues, Ridley, Shadow, Roll and Megaman moved near Lu Bu, ready to take on Phantom and Sephiroth.

"Don't expect that feathered hat of yours to stay intact after this, Lu Bu. Today, it will be one of you two, to fall, to even the odds at last." Sephiroth said, quickly shooting forward at Lu Bu, who raised his spear, swinging it at Sephiroth, their weapons locking together.

"And don't expect your hair to be in good condition after this vermin! Face the wrath of the greatest warrior alive!" with that, Lu Bu shoved Sephiroth back with his spear, causing Sephiroth to slide back a little on his feet, before he smirked, and charged again.

* * *

Jak, as he just blasted another Zerg apart with his energy rifle weapon, had to quickly roll as Daxter shouted at him to, to avoid another one of those things from the walls.

As the heroes in the circle area had been battling the remaining Zerg, something new had happened. No doubt it's Unicron's answer to white cells, attacking anything 'infectious' to him…except they weren't white, they came through the holes in the place, had sharp, red deadly looking pincers that looked like they could snap a human being in half, and were connected to massive cords, that allowed them to extend from the said holes to deal with threats and had a life of their own.

They were having a party with the heroes, making them not only fight off Zerg, but dodge like crazy in this game of life and death. Optimus Prime and Soundwave had tried to stop the things, but even blasting the holes they came from didn't seem to be enough to stop them from coming.

Ken just uppercutted a Zerg when one of the pincers came at him, only for Mr T, having lifted up a huge chunk of metal debris from the mess made by Optimas and Soundwave, threw it at the pincer being and crushed it underneath the weight of the scrap. The cord connecting it snapped, retracted back into it's broken hole, into the darkness…then returned, with a new set of pincers. "Oh goddamn this! They ain't never gonna run out!" Mr T proclaimed in annoyance. That was his 20th kill of these creatures.

Xiahou Yuan and Link had fired several arrows into another, damaging it's cord, only for it to break off the damaged segment, along with the pincer, retract and vola, new one. "If things keeps up, we're finished!" Xiahou Yuan shouted, as he begun firing at the replacement, as Link targeted another. Ryu was covering them when it came to the Zerg, literally having just smashed his foot into another Zergs face, crushing it's skull in before it hit the floor dead.

Optimus Prime just caught one of the Pincer beings and torn it off it's cord, then another, then another just before it reached his head. Soundwave was blasting them, taking care not to hit the others as he does. "Numbers, infinite. Death, imminent."

"Well thanks for the morale boost Soundwave!" Xiahou Dun gave with sarcasm, as he diced another Zerg down, then quickly dodged one of the pincers and sliced it off its cord. Another one was plunging towards him but was destroyed by a Super Missile, unleashed by Samus Aran. Xiahou Dun gave her a thumbs up as thanks before cutting down another Zerg, it's head taken off by Xiahou Dun's blade.

Sonic and Quickman had no trouble in dodging the pincers, and their focus were the Zerg, killing them in rapid succession. Quickman was unleashing Quick Boomerangs left and right, all hitting their targets with deadly aim. Sonic was using the ol' homing attack, smashing the skulls of the Zerg in. he quickly lands near Quickman. "Hey! I'm racking up a decent kill score here! You?"

"Of course! These Zerg go down fairly easy!"

As Optimus damages another Pincer being, he sees more Zerg coming, once again, from their route back to where they beamed in. once they started fighting the lot from the stairway, they noticed that, somehow, more and more were coming from behind. No doubt the Zerg knew a route found the place to reach them. "Everyone get ready! Third wave of Zerg inbound!"

* * *

Outside, in space. The battle was going, very, very bad. Unicron was crushing anything close to him, and anything that wasn't, he unleashed from his mouth, some sort of plasma breath, causing plenty of damage. The Enterprise just got hit by another fresh wave of it.

The bridge shook like crazy as the Plasma hit, and soon stopped once Unicron ceased it for a moment. Worf soon gave the captain an update "Sir! Aft Shields are down to 20%, Forward shields are down to 17%! Port and Starboard Shields have failed! Hull damage on decks 16, 15 and 14!"

"Keep firing whatever Torpedoes we got left Lieutenant, we need to hold out as much as possible! What's the status of the fleet?"

Worf quickly checked. "Most ships have taken large amounts of damage, several disabled, at least 58 ships destroyed. Countless-"

"-combat fighters have been lost. Sir, Unicron isn't even being phased by our assault. It's becoming a massacre out there, one that's not going to stop anytime soon." Master Chief said to Rufus, as they both stood on the bridge of the Galactica. The bridge lights were flickering slightly, and some of the bridge crew were busy putting out a small fire from one of the destroyed computers, from the last plasma wave they received.

"…tell the fleet to keep pushing against him. We have to wait, and pray." was all Rufus answered with.

Unicron, seeing a Galaxy Class vessel of the United Federation of Planets a little close, grabbed it in his fingers, snatching it up by the saucer section, crushing several of the decks, and just dispersing the shields, before throwing it like a frisbee, it spinning like crazy, at a nearby Star Destroyer, making the Starship collide right at the command section of the huge vessel, and explode, taking both out instantly.

Telling them to fight on is fine, but with the carnage Unicron is causing, it's killing their hope of victory. To many, all begun to seem lost.

* * *

Once Chad and Darkmega ran past Sephiroth and Phantom, into the next room beyond, they noticed it was dark, and the only light they had was from the room behind them…which, to their dismay, was now blocked off, as another steel door slammed down, blocking them from those they now left behind, and leaving them in the dark.

Chad stood there, waiting…then sighed. "Great, so much for saving the day and all. I think Sephiroth tricked us."

Then, they begun to hear something above them, like as if two metal doors were opening slowly, then, they had to look away, from a glittering blue light, appearing from above, spreading all over the room eventually. It showed that it was dome shaped area, with several grey pillars, made of metal, and wiring galore, the walls around this place were just tubes, multi coloured, all seem to be going to the center of the ceiling of this dome like room.

As Chad and Darkmega could finally look up, they saw what was in the middle of that ceiling, that created this blue glitter glow over the place.

The Matrix of Leadership.

It was embedded into the ceiling, the tubes surrounding it on all sides, leaving the beautiful crystal showing, to illuminate the room.

"What, what the devil is that?" Darkmega asked. Chad had the answer. The image of the device, of this same crystal flashed into his head. He remembered the teleport room now, and remembered seeing this, and putting the Black Materia and Holy one with it.

"The Matrix…" Chad mumbled, in slight awe.

"Thanks to you Chad, it is now mine." a new voice was in the room. One that Chad and Darkmega knew, both quickly looking ahead now. On the other side of the room, seemingly appearing from nowhere, was Unicron. He was in the same form as his planet body was now, but here, he stood at about 8 feet, in his hand, was a sword of his own. It looked like the Master Sword of Links, but it had a Black hilt, a menacing red aura flowed around the blade, and embedded on the blade, was a line of red crystals, on both sides of the blade segment, starting from where the hilt ended, all the way up to the tip, formed out like tree branches.

"With the Matrix in my possession, my body can repair itself rapidly, without the need of protection from those deflectors my creators left on me. And now here you are, both of you, who have helped me gain this power, to come and take it away."

Chad got his Blade of Darkness ready, and Darkmega got a Dark Cybersword formed. "Unicron! We're gonna put a stop to you! We got what we need to defeat you!" Chad smiled after saying that. If they could beat Richard easily with this new power then…

Unicron chuckled. "Your light, and his darkness, is of little use against me. You think you have the ability to stop me…you are very, very wrong. I have a gift, granted to me long ago, from none other then the gods themselves. Behold, pests, a true power to fear!"

With that, an aura burst from him, a dark grey aura, with it, as it formed around him, a wave of energy flowed throughout the room, knocking Darkmega and Chad slightly, letting them know just how much power he had.

Chad looked intimidated at first, then laughed a little. "Oh come on, so you got the power Richard must've had earlier, big whoop, we got him nonetheless and gained THIS off him! Now Darkmega!" as if on instinct, he knew what to say to trigger it.

"LIFE SOUL!" as Darkmega shouted "DEATH SOUL!"

Chad's White, holy looking aura appeared on him, as Darkmega's Black aura appeared, both looking at Unicron, with determination and filled confidence that they had this in the bag.

Unicron appeared unfazed. "That won't be enough, to stop me!"

Darkmega and Chad quickly started the fight with unleashing their respective energy beams at Unicron, only for the digital copy of the robot to leap up into the air and seemingly fly over to where they were, before coming back down, sword ready, taking a swing as he got close. Chad jumped out of the way to the left, Darkmega to the right.

The moment Unicron landed, he focused on Chad, aiming his hand at him and shouting "LIGHT FANTASTIC!"

The element, Light Fantastic, is the believed colour beyond darkness. It came from the time of the Chozo, who's written words claim that darkness is nothing more then the light's absence, and beyond it, true darkness, was this, where there was no other element that could combine with it, but like all, it had an opposite.

The beam of energy that flew out of Unicron's hand was a shining Purple colour, like pure water, flying out, heading right to Chad, as he just turned to look at Unicron, saying "Light Fanwha-" before the beam hit, sending him off his feet, smashing into the nearby wall.

Darkmega saw this, and ran at Unicron, jumping up a little and swinging the Dark Cybersword down at the machine, only for Unicron to block the blade with his own, then bring fist up, punching Darkmega in the stomach, knocking him away. The Navi managed to get himself to land on his feet, quickly change the sword to a Dark cannon, and firing it at Unicron, who simply swung his sword diagonally, and an red, crescent energy wave shot out of it, disbanding each shot on impact, and flying towards Darkmega, who quickly used an Area Steal chip to evade it.

As the Dark Navi just appeared nearby after using the chip, Unicron fired another Light Fantastic beam, hitting Darkmega, sending him to the floor. Unicron then quickly charged over, as Darkmega was just trying to make himself stand again, and swung his edition of the Master Sword…only to stumble, as a red ball of spiky fur smacked into the back of his head hard, making him just step on Darkmega, causing the Navi to shout in pain, before Unicron stepped back, quickly turning around to see his attacker…and only to be hit right in the face by the red rolling ball of Chad, in his mobian form, knocking Unicron backwards, stepping on Darkmega again, this time going past time afterwards, recovering now from the attack, as Chad landed near Darkmega, Blade of Darkness in hand. "Alright Unicron! Let's do this!"

Unicron wasted no time. He charged and swung the master sword, as Chad quickly used his blade to block the attack, then jumped away, making sure Unicron's sword didn't touch him, then launched into the air and performed the homing attack. Unicron was quick to stop it, as he simply used his arm to stop Chad from hitting him in the head again, and as Chad bounced off the arm, Unicron quickly batted him away, making Chad get out of the roll, and land on his feet, to get a Light Fantastic beam in the face, smashing once more into a wall.

That beam was doing heavy damage, but Chad wasn't going down easy, he rushed forward, dodged another beam, just, then rolled up into the ball while moving, to try and knock Unicron down. The machine only had to kick him hard to knock him away, but as Chad was in the air, he rolled out again and used Chaos Control, appearing behind Unicron on the ground on his feet, and tried to plunge the Blade of Darkness into the back of his enemy.

The evil edition of the Master Sword blocked this attack moments before it made contact, and Unicron was now looking down at Chad. "…How the hell did you…" was all Chad was allowed to say before Unicron used his energy Aura as a weapon, with a powerful energy burst, to knock Chad away from him.

"Foolish boy. You expected such a simple move to catch me out?"

Unicron found himself being hit by numerous small purple energy bullets, coming from Darkmegas buster, as he was on one knee, firing away. As Unicron aimed his focus on Darkmega, Chad fired off a Life beam, the White energy beam, hitting the side of Unicron, making him stumble, before Darkmega saw this chance, using three battlechips, all Vulcan cannons, he formed the weapon known as Infinity Vulcan, firing a hail of rapid bullets at Unicron.

The Planet Eater begun to try and move from the wave of shots, but then Chad decided to join in, having the same three battlechips, first he turned back into his human form, then he triggered program advance, making another Infinity Vulcan, unleashing hell. Unicron seemed to be unable to dodge anymore, as he seemed caught in both waves, yelling out in fury, before a sudden explosion occurred where he was.

"Now Darkmega! Get him!" Chad quickly disabled the Vulcan, getting the Blade of Darkness, and running up to where Unicron is, Darkmega forcing himself off his knee, forming the Dark Cybersword, and charging as well, both getting towards Unicron, and the brief cloud of smoke, at the same time.

This, proved to be a very bad choice.

Although Unicron had taken a pounding, he was still capable of hearing them, and had regained his posture as he heard them running forward, putting away his sword…and through the smoke, his shot his hands forward, and gripped, tightly, on the heads of Darkmega, and Chad, as the smoke cleared away, lifting them off the ground slightly, then, using the energy flowing around him, he sent waves of it down his arms and hands, into them, shocking them violently with energy bursts. As they were shouting in pain, they tried to send out their own bursts of energy from their auras, but it did nothing, neither loosened the grip of Unicron, or stayed his wrath on them.

"Now…your deaths, Darkmega, Chad Malyan, will mark the beginning of my time. I'll destroy all those who wish to oppose me, destroy your precious worlds, and make sure, I, remain supreme, forever more…"

He tightened his grip more so, the pain was sharp and severe, Darkmega could feel his helmet and skull on the verge of cracking, and Chad wasn't sure if his was already broken or not, all he could feel was endless waves of pain.

Chad begun to lose his focus…was…was he going to black out before his skull is completely destroyed, his brains squashed into mashed meat? He admitted, inbetween the thoughts about the pain, that would be the nicer way to go…but he let them down…Anna down…Roll down.

Then, he heard the words of Zuo Ci echo, in his mind. '…the Dragon of Death…the Phoenix of Life…The Life Soul…The Death Soul. When they combine, they can unlock the ultimate power. Remember this.'

Combine? He quickly tried to think of what Zuo Ci could mean by that. Darkmega had one, he had the other, how could they combi-

He had it. It clicked in his mind.

Cross Fusion.

Cross Fusion is an ability granted at first to Net Navis, then eventually, was able to be used widespread. It is literate to it's name. it cross two separate beings, and fuses them together to create one single being for a certain given time, depending on the condition of both beings, and their level of 'sync', meaning how focused on the same objective they are. If one flatly refuses to do something, while the other wants to, if it's before a Cross Fusion, it won't occur, and if during, they both suffer the risk of unfusing.

If damage is taken during the combined form, once split, both users will still suffer the same damage they received during fusion, a downside, in exchange for a combined power effort. 'Freeform' Cross Fusion is when two Navis, or a Navi and another being fuse, as Cross Fusion is already in Net Navi programming, they can trigger it.

'Synchro' Cross Fusion is when there are no Net Navis included. If that's the case, both beings must have a Synchro battlechip each, created during SCI to expand it's use to other races beyond just needing a Navi, and trigger them at the same time, to perform Cross Fusion.

Chad weakly looked to Darkmega, and mumbled "D…Darkmega…Cr, Cross Fusion…it's…it's the only way…"

Darkmega opened his eyes slightly, trying to ignore the pain. "Cross, Fusion? Al, alright…" slowly, he reached out his hand towards Chad, and Chad done the same towards Darkmega, both just touching, so to make sure it was solely between them, and not accidentally included Unicron, who at the moment, looked at their hands, baffled for a second on what they were trying to do.

Then, with one almighty Shout, Darkmega cried "CROSS! FUSION!"

Both seemed to get covered in a blue bright light, to Unicron, both had vanished from his death grip, and he covered his eyes for a moment, trying to see what's going on.

Darkmega, within the light, vanished into data fragments, as Chad floated there, the data surrounding him, before he then turned back into his mobian form, and the fragments flowed into his body. His fur changed colour, from red to dark shade of purple, light red lines from the spiked parts of his fur, down to his eyelids appeared, and his white gloves turned black, along with his shoes.

Then an aura appeared around him, as he floated there, a light grey aura, and in effect, by the combination of the Life and Death souls, his fur was changed again, from purple to dark grey, the lines turned black.

The light faded. And there he was, standing before Unicron, Blade of Darkness in hand, his aura flared.

Chad heard a voice in his mind, Darkmegas voice. "Damn…I feel this power from us…"

"What…what is this?" Unicron spoke, in a way of disbelief. He recognized the aura coming off them, the power they now had. Apart, they were ineffective, together, light and darkness, they formed the opposite of his Light Fantastic…Twilight.

"Oh? This?" Chad said. He felt refreshed…and ready to kick serious ass. "This is the end of the road for you, Ol'Uni!" he quickly pointed his free hand forward, and unleashed a matching beam of energy to his aura, smacking hard, into Unicron, sending him flying across the room, hitting the floor. As he was getting up, Chad used chaos control, appeared high above Unicron, and making the Blade of Darkness seemingly vanish, he aimed both hands downwards to Unicron…and fired, over and over again, as many energy beams as he could muster, the force of the beams firing out keeping him in the air, as they rain down, and continually smash into Unicron, who was screaming out in pain and fury, and eventually, before long, his body broke down into data, the aura, weakened and unable to stop the attack, and he blasted apart, with one last scream of defiance of his fate, the sudden table turn. The weakness finally exposed.

Once he noticed Unicron was gone, Chad allowed himself to land on the ground, panting from firing off so much energy in one go, but it did the job…Victory.

"Hey Darkmega, we, we did it!"

"Oh hell yes! We kicked his ass! Gonna need to have a party or something tonight!" was the response in Chads mind.

"Oh….have you really won?" they knew that voice, quickly looking around, they spot Unicron, back again, at the same spot as he appeared before, when they started the fight.

"What the!? How the fuck are you-" then, Chad heard Unicron's voice from another spot.

"This is merely data, Chad Malyan." spoke the other Unicron, who just appeared to the right of Chad, near the wall. Then Chad hears yet another one, this time behind him, at the sealed door.

"I can produce as many as I want. And now I know that one isn't enough…I've brought more."

Chad was…pretty sure he was fucked. "Oh…oh man…what the hell do I do…"

Then yet another one appeared, this time to his left.

"Chad, I, I don't know. We can't take them all on, and he'll just make more after we kill these ones, it's gonna be endless!" Darkmega said.

Then, Chad looked up at the Matrix, the blue shining crystal above…and decided to just try something, remembering something Zuo Ci said once again. "God, I hope Zuo Ci was right by setting it free…" with that, he sighed deeply, and rose his hands upwards.

"Whoa whoa Chad! What're you doing?!" Darkmega quickly shouted in Chads mind.

"…A shot in the dark."

And with that, he put his hands together, focused as much as possible of his energy into one point…and fired off a huge beam of Twilight energy, flying up, and hitting the Matrix…and afterwards, silence…

Before the crystal of the Matrix, begun cracking.

Blue beams of energy broke through the cracks, shining around the room…then more as the cracks appeared, and more, some of the beams hit the Unicrons, and instantly, they dissolved away. Then the Matrix shattered, glass like fragments hitting everyone on the floor, bouncing off the aura around Chad, and with the breaking of it, a shining bright blue light washed past them, past those battling Phantom and Sephiroth, those against the Zerg, all throughout the insides of the Unicron…

And the place, especially in the room Chad was, begun to explode. The tubes on the ceiling begun to fall, the wiring in the walls blasting apart and melting, the pillars exploding with sparks everywhere. The Surge of power from the Matrix, connected to Unicron, had gone through him. And was killing him.

The door that was sealed opened up, as the collapse of the room continued. Chad knew to just leg it.

In the room where Phantom, Sephiroth and such were, it begun to break apart. Before Lu Bu and the others had a chance to wonder what the hell is going on, Phantom, with Sephiroth quickly moving over to him, vanished, along with the silver haired deity, just as Chad ran in.

"Who the, wait, is that you Chad?!" Roll was surprised, that's for sure.

"Yup!" then, Chad saw the door that lead to the stairs opened up. "And we gotta start running, right now!"

"GRR! SEPHIROTH! Our fight isn't finished!" Lu Bu then clicked his fingers and disappeared, leaving the others behind to not wonder, but to just go on without him, heading down the stairs as quick as possible.

* * *

Outside, Unicron was twitching violently, and had his arms around his stomach for a moment.

"Data, what's going on with Unicron?" Picard asked, surprised at the sudden turn of the Planet Eater, like as if his eaten something bad.

"Sir, I am picking up bursts of energy coming from the inside of Unicron. The amount of energy bursts suggest his system are overloading. I recommend that we inform all remaining ships to withdraw away from Unicron. If he is to explode, our shields will be unable to withstand the blast."

The sudden specks of green light bursting out of Unicron's stomach, legs, arms and chest, creating small holes in the massive body, and Unicron looking in pain, confirmed that this is what's going to happen. "Worf! Contact all vessels now!" Picard shouted.

"Sir, what about Chad and the others?" Riker quickly said to his captain.

"….Data, I need you make sure you have a lock on to Gaia VII, inform La Forge to prepare for an emergency Warp."

"Sir?" Data turned and looked at him.

"We'll wait for as long as we can for them, if Unicron is about to blow, we leave."

"Aye sir."

* * *

Back inside Unicron, Xiahou Dun had just taken down one of the Pincer devices that just slammed Samus into the wall, when the Zerg stopped fighting, and begun to flee, running down the way the group arrived, and the pincers suddenly snapped off their coils, and this time as the coils went back into the holes, they didn't return. The room was shaking violently.

"What the? What's happening NOW?" Daxter said, exhausted from all the clinging onto Jaks shoulder, shouting at him as he dodged, fought and battled just now…he did help a little during all of this, jumped on a Zerg's face and blocked out it's eyes long enough for Jak to burst it with his rifle at point blank.

"Hey! Look!" Link quickly pointed in the direction of the staircase…then felt a little worried that he almost said the same thing a certain annoying fairy did, back on his world.

Just coming off the staircase, running towards them, as the ceiling near the stairs collapsed, crushing the steps and blocking the way they came, was Chad, still fused, Roll, Blues, Megaman, Shadow and Ridley.

"Guys! What's happening?" Ken was a little jumpy with the sudden shaking.

"We gotta get outta here right now!" was all Chad needed to say, before they turned and…saw their escape route, the corridor ceiling had almost collapsed, trapping them in.

"…Well, we're boned." is all Blues said.

"Not yet." it came from Shadow, as he showed what he had on him. The red Chaos Emerald. "Be thankful I had this with me. If I can focus, I can get us out of this…with more help, it would make the process go faster for a wide ranged, group Chaos Control."

Almost right away Sonic and Chad want over and placed their hand on the Emerald, with Sonic saying "Ready when you are bud, just gotta click the heels and think there's no place like home!"

Shadow frowned, as Chad knew this would be the Black Hedgehogs reaction, and smirked, as Sonic said playfully "What? I'm kidding Shadow! Relax!"

All three then focus their minds into thinking of escaping, and where they wanted to get to…the Enterprise is as good as any spot right now, ten-forward. And when they all could feel the chaos energy flow into them from the Emerald, together, they shouted "Chaos….CONTROL!" in a flash of green light, everyone was gone.

* * *

Unicron had just grabbed his leg, trying to keep it in place, as numerous explosions inside of it were happening, but it simply blasted off him, and exploded, hundreds of small rays of green light coming out of the leg wound. He was losing his stability quickly.

The last of the fleet had warped away but the Enterprise, when Data detected something. "Captain, numerous lifeforms have appeared in Ten-Forward. It is Chads group, one unknown lifeform, and the two machines, along with a mobian, have appeared in the Cargo hold."

Picard didn't give a damn about the unknown lifeform, he quickly got out of his seat. "Data! Warp 1! engage!"

The Enterprise quickly turned around, and wrapped away, heading back to Gaia VII, along with the rest of the fleet. Unicron, helpless, flew backwards without meaning to, his systems going haywire. Inside his head, was a massive computer room, the monitors going mad with data, the lights flickering like crazy. In the middle of the room, is what appeared to be, a glass ball, being held by two metal poles, from the sides of the wall.

Inside the glass ball was frozen liquid, and a figure, barely able to be seen, inside of it, wires embedded into his body. Outside the ball, was the master sword Unicron used, but no aura around it. The figure inside was awake, and felt all this, unable to hold the body together.

"**Destiny****…****.**"

Unicron was trying so hard to keep himself together, then, an explosion came from his back, his coolant systems and energy diffusion nods were all taken out.

"**You cannot****…****destroy****…****.my****…"**

Unicron held his stomach and chest, feeling all the energy processors, all of that ancient technology that made him, about to overload.

"…**DESTINYYY!**"

In the head, the monitors of the computers were flashing red, showing some kind of language, like as if it was an emergency.

Then, the head of Unicron violently ripped off, in a burst of energy, from the body, spinning around, away from it, as the Planet Eaters chest and stomach expanded rapidly from the sudden wave of explosions inside it, before it just obliterated itself in a flash of green light, shards, chunks of metal and debris of the body flying off in all directions.

Unicron, was defeated.

* * *

In Ten-forward, the group, bar Optimus, Soundwave and Shadow, were there, all surprised, and relieved that they made it, with Chad panting, before he finally unfused with Darkmega, and Darkmega appearing on the floor, tired out. Chad was back in his human form, and smiled at Darkmega, giving him a thumbs up. Darkmega smiled, and done the same.

At the bar of the place, Guinan stood there, looking at them all, as Darkmega eventually got himself up, and they sorted themselves out a little, beginning to tell each other about what happened in their groups and such. When Guinan coughed, they stopped for a moment. "Anyone care for a little celebration drink?"

They all seem to just pause, then started chatting again, as they walked over to the bar.

* * *

There was a map…a small map, showing a cluster of stars. On the map, was a chess piece, white, shaped like Unicron. Nearby it, was a chess piece of Chad, and a chess piece of Darkmega. Over at the corner of the map, was one of Richard.

A male humanoid hand picked up the Unicron piece, and lifted it up, holding it close to his face…he had a medium, neat brown goatee, brown hair, slick back, with hints of white hair in his goatee and hair, and his skin was a peachy colour. He wore a white, silk robe, lined with gold cotton, and his eyes…They were as if black voids, with specks of stars in them.

Nearby, a male, deep voice came from a gold throne nearby. Someone was sitting upon it. "He failed. This was expected in some ways. it was to be. He was old. He was not ready for this time set in motion."

Then the man with the star eyes said, in a matter of fact tone. "Of course it didn't help the Lady had to guide the boy to victory…"

In the shadows, looking at the map with them, was a woman of some sort. Her voice, kind, gentle. "He is a brave child. And with the others, I expect with a little Luck, he'll make it far.

The man on the Throne spoke to the one that held Unicrons piece. "Do not think your piece is defeated fully yet. Unicron has, in a sense, survived. The host within, survived. And also, so has my piece." He reached out, and picked up Richard. "This game is far from over, that much is certain."


	17. Junon Harbor attack

The remaining ships of the Alliance returned above Gaia VII, victorious.

Unicron was defeated. It was something of a grand feat no doubt. On the Enterprise, the celebration had begun a little in Ten-Forward with Chad's group. During it, they all hear the Captain of the vessel, Picard, over the Ships com-system.

"This is the Captain speaking. Rufus wishes to speak to all people of the alliance, on all ships, please, listen to what he has to say."

Chad was sitting with a slightly tired Darkmega, drinking pure, non fizzy coke…it was disgusting, but that's all they could serve him when he ran out of names of the drinks he likes. "I bet it's gonna be about justice, rights to the people, and how none of it, was thanks to you and me."

Then, they heard Rufus. "Ladies and Gentlemen. I, Emperor Rufus Shinra, thank you, for putting your lives, on the line, for that fateful battle. The lives that have been lost won't be forgotten. From those of the Galactic Empire, to those of the Romulan Star Empire. In the cry for help, you heard us, and came to our aid, after all the confrontations our forces have had….thank you. This will not be forgotten. I now must ask, that those that led these fine forces, come down to Junon, where I will ask for something else…something more peaceful. This is a chance-"

While he continued, on the bridge, Data was busy scanning Junon, noticing something. "Captain, I am detecting an unknown species on the planet. Several hundred of them."

Picard was sitting in his chair, trying to listen to Rufus. "Data it's not unusual to detect unknown lifeforms in a sector we don't fully know."

"Yes, but sir, they are within Junon. Some humanoid life signs have just been lost, with those Unknown ones being close to where they were terminated."

Riker now looked worried, turning to Picard. "An attack? Right after Unicron?"

Picard's guess of it was about the same as Riker, looking at Worf. "Send an emergency message to the Galactica. Tell Rufus that Junon is under attack!"

"Aye sir!"

"Riker, inform Chads group they might be needed on the surface now. If it's somehow Unicron making another stand, as unlikely as it seems, then the ones that took him out would be best."

Riker nodded, and pressed on his com-badge. "Riker to those in Ten-Forward and the cargo bay, we're deploying you back down to Junon right now. There appears to be an invasion of some sort going on. They might need you."

If they refused or not didn't seem to matter, as Riker ordered them to be beamed down to the planet as soon as.

* * *

Zerg.

In the wake of feeling the looming death of Unicron, had used their Zerg Veins, to first get aboard several of the GF warships, undetected, then as soon as the ships got close to Gaia VII, sprung a revenge attack on Junon Harbour.

As they appeared, they attacked anything in reach of them, turning those they grabbed onto, into infected beings, using them in their battle against the troopers guarding the place. Alarms in Junon were blaring, as the Zerg launched their vicious attack. The GF troopers had already tried to start isolating the Zerg and taking them out, but with each Zerg and Infected they killed, the Zerg managed to make another infected to take it's place.

What didn't help more so was the fact that the several Zerg Overminds that followed Unicron, had also arrived, and were able to rapidly produce eggs, which, within mere minutes thanks to rapid growth DNA, formed new Zerg.

One large squad of GF troopers, in the streets of Junon, were lined up, taking out as many Zerg as possible there were coming at them, being sent forward by one of the Overminds, black strips down his body, his mouth making a clicking sound, as the mix of human infected and Zerg charged, the gunfire didn't seem to faze them. One of troopers knew he wanted to retire right now instead of staying. "SIR! We can't keep this up! They're getting closer!"

The commander of the squad admitted to himself that, the line up, shoot down idea didn't seem to faze the creatures, and even saw them start to climb up the building walls, rushing to where they were. He was about to signal the retreat and to reorganize, when someone shouted "Don't you even DARE think about being goddamn sissies! Let us show ya how to handle this!"

The voice was of Zhang Fei, leaping over the troopers, and landing in front of them, standing between them, and the Zerg…and then jumping over the men, was Knuckles, Sun Ce and Sun Shang Xiang, the children of Sun Jian, Net Navi Protoman and Navi Gutsman and finally Mario and Luigi.

They all landed near Zhang Fei, ready to fight, as muscled guy spun his Twin Viper spear around, then smacked it into the ground, glaring right at the Zerg. "COME ON! I AM ZHANG FEI OF EARTH V!"

Protoman quickly turned to the troopers. "You lot, make yourselves useful, shoot the ones on the walls. We'll handle the ground."

With that, the group dived into the lines of the creatures, as the troopers did as they were told, blasting down the Zerg climbing up and across the buildings.

Elsewhere, inside the corridors of Junon, the Zerg just slaughtered a group of troopers trying to get in their way, and ran into the next corridor, to find Forte aiming his arm cannon at them. "Bad move fellas." and then, he whistled.

Serious Sam walked around the corner, now standing with Forte, holding a mini gun, making it spin up and ready to fire. "Get wrecked assholes."

It was after a good 5 minutes or so, as in the next corridor along, was Pang Tong, Charlie and Guan Yu. They allowed those two to handle the situation….before long they heard Sam cursing, before he rushed in, panting, with cuts in his clothing, and lacking his mini gun. Forte soon arrived as well, panting.

Charlie guessed. "I take it the 'team up and mow down with constant firing' tactic didn't take. Sam where did you put your gun?"

"Locked up on me, I just threw it at them to get a chance to make a tactical retreat."

"Right…" Charlie motioned them to get behind him, Guan Yu and Pang Tong. As they did, the Zerg just ran in, rushing at them…the first wave, one swipe of Guan Yu's weapon, the blue dragon, diced them down into two pieces each, and as more came, Charlie unleashed a Sonic Boom, the ring of energy flying at the Zerg, slicing them in half as it went down the corridor, their blood splurting out as the energy sawed trough them. "Well let's get comfy and just wear them out."

Back Outside, the battle there had been…rather smooth with the arrival of Zhang Fei and such.

Sun Ce was just seen with his metal Tonfas, charging at a fresh wave of Zerg, screaming out "ATATATATA!" rapidly smashing them all with the metal poles, crushing their skulls and rib cages in, before a final swing of one of the Tonfa, knocking the bodies of the Zerg flying, dieing by simple internal bleeding. He had been taken under the wing of a master of Hokuto Shinken style recently, and already it was paying off. "Oh yeah! I got 'em!"

Gutsman put his hand together forming a massive iron hammer, bringing it down and slamming it into the ground, shouting "GUTS HAMMER!", the blow of it shook the Zerg all around him, making them unbalanced from the sudden shockwave, long enough for Sun Shang Xiang to throw her chakrams, the wheel blades embedding into two of the creatures, before she pulled out her bow and arrows, and fired as fast as possible, taking out what Zerg she could in their weakened state.

Zhang Fei was seen ahead of all of them, spinning his Viper spear like crazy, either the Zerg got smacked away, or hacked down by his mad charge. It made the Zerg Overmind feel concerned about this creature coming towards him. As Zhang got close, and swung the Spear, the Zerg Overmind ducked under, then stood up, swinging one on of it's claw wearing fists at Zhang Fei, who got a lovely blood covered gash on his chest from it, just cutting the skin, before he yelled at the thing, and grabbed it by the head, before continuously head butting it like mad. It was clear he had some degree of booze before this battle.

The Overminds head slowly begun to get crushed in, and green blood begun to ooze from it's mouth. It was dead, and it's Zerg clan knew it, as they begun to scatter and flee in terror, but Zhang Fei didn't seem to give up his head butting, untill Protoman grabbed his shoulder, looking a little stunned. that's when Zhang Fei noticed the skull of his target was fucked up beyond anything, dropping what's left. "Oh…hey, sorry about that, must've got a tad carried away."

"Come on, we haven't got time waste. We need to make sure everyone else is doing okay."

Well besides Charlie, Guan Yu and Pang Tong bearing a brunt of an assault, things were worse elsewhere.

* * *

Within one of the offices was Dr Light, Dr Robotnik, Wily, Regal and Yuichiro, along with them, was Anna, Zhang He, Liu Bei, Wei Yan, a Shu warrior from Earth V, and Rock, who just blasted back three Zerg with his mega buster the moment they stepped through the doorway into the place.

"Not a good sign. This means they've managed to take out the guards you placed down both ends of the corridor here Robotnik." Light said.

Robotnik was outta ideas that meant. He couldn't get in contact with Rufus, he didn't reach the communication room in time to scream for help, and the only guards they had at the time of the surprise attack, have now been wasted.

"Enemy…die…by…my….hands…before…they…reach….doctors !" Wei Yan shouted. He wasn't good with the galactic speech, when they hired him he was pretty much a vagrant from the outer rim, who killed off one of the warlords of Earth V, Hua Xian, due to his disrespectful attitude to him and Huang Zhong, an old man who once served Liu Bei before the peace treaty on that planet occurred.

During his little talk, Rock had taken out several more Zerg, and another lot just ran in, nearly swarming him, but thanks to some lucky well aimed fast shots, he managed to put a hole in each of their heads. "Well if you want to help out, don't mind me ya know! Jump in whenever you're ready!"

He didn't need to.

The next wave of Zerg to came through, literally flew in, with an explosion behind them in the corridor, their bodies in a state, flying over the others or just hitting the floor near them, all dead.

To Anna's happiness, Chad ran in, with Darkmega, Roll and Jak and Daxter…all looking rather burnt and damaged slightly, with Chad's hair smoking a little, and Daxter, on Jaks shoulder, was covered in black soot. He wasn't a happy bunny, as Samus, Link, Xiahou Yuan and the others from the mission to Unicron came in, all but Optimus Prime and Soundwave, who went on to handle the fighting with the Zerg elsewhere.

Daxter turned himself around, looking at Samus. "Seriously woman…WARN US, BEFORE YOU USE, A BARRAGE, OF YOUR SUPER MISSILES!"

Samus shrugged. "Eh, done the job. Stop whining like a bitch."

"CHAD!" Anna was on him like glue, regardless of his smoky state, hugging him tightly.

"Ow, hey, ow, Anna. Miss me?" Chad was in pain, but he tried to ignore it just for her.

Dr Wily soon interrupted them. "Anna enough. Drop him will you? Chad, what's the status with Unicron?"

As Anna finally let him go. "Good news, his a goner and won't be coming back anytime soon."

"Hm, then this is a counter attack move then, by these Zerg. I take it they were, within or with Unicron at one point during your mission there?"

Chad nodded. "Horde of 'em were hanging out inside of him. Everyone here managed to do some damage to them mind, before me and Darkmega kicked Unicrons ass."

"Well perhaps you wouldn't mind getting out there and wrapping up this little trouble for us. Seems like the Galactic Federation are doing their best, but they'll need a little help from outsiders…like normal."

Chad sighed. "No break yet doc? Seriously?"

They heard a roar of anger behind them. As they all turned to look, an Overmind had lept at them, claws ready, blue line down his body, his two back claws, teeth bearing, and his target was Ken…before he found himself grabbed by the neck of Mr T. "Don't be a foo', goddamn alien freak! Lemme show ya what happens when you finally make me angry!"

He seemingly let go of the Zerg Overmind, and it never got a chance to land on the ground, as a barrage of a hundred fists flew at it, all from Mr T, smacking the creature, indenting it's body, crushing it's bones, no blood oozing out, it's legs and arms crippled, it's claws smashed up, all the while Mr T seemed actually rather calm while abusing the poor, now helpless Zerg.

Then, he kicked it away, back into the corridor, smacking into a wall…it weakly cried out "O-overmind Richard…h-help, me.." before imploding, it's blood and guts spewing out all over the floor, before it's body slid down to the ground.

Mr T simply cracked his knuckles afterwards, as the others stared at him. Well, the others but the docs. They knew who they brought in when accepting Mr T. he was a Master of Hokuto Shinken, the iron fist type, and the master to Sun Ce. Earth V's many talented officers knew parts of Hokuto and Nanto fighting styles alike, but there were no masters of the arts on that Planet…Mr T is the only known current master of an art.

"….Holy fuck you're awesome." Ken said, completely taken by surprise.

"Wait, what did it say about Richard?" Chad asked them….they all seem to look at him weirdly.

"Chad…it made some pitched noises before it died." Roll told him.

"No, it said about Richard. That means he might be here! Come on! We gotta go look!" with that, Chad pushed past them, heading off.

Darkmega was even worried slightly. "I…think our Cross Fusion done some damage to his head. Better make sure his okay though. Come on!"

* * *

Chad turned into his Mobian form, running ever faster. Looking, hunting. Richard was here somewhere. Unicron was defeated, and that meant Chad might have a chance to finally make him understand.

He could save him…and beat him up at the same time. Chad smiled a little at that. Of course there would have to be a little battle first between them.

He shot past those of the base, those that were with the Galactic Federation, and even managed to smack a few Zerg around while looking, his frantic search didn't take that long though.

As it begun to rain, Chad arrived outside at one of the docks of Junon Harbour, the sea a little more rougher then earlier, the rain effectively cleaning off whatever soot he had on him, and a weak wind was blowing.

There he was, Richard. Standing there, at the end of the dock, looking out at the sea.

Chad changed back into his human form once he got through the doorway leading out to the dock, Blade of Darkness ready. "RICHARD!"

Richard was heard sighing, and slowly turned around, shaking his head a little. In his hand, the Dark Wolf once again. "Chad Chad Chad….you're all alone. Not the best idea now is it? You learnt this from only a little while ago."

"Unicron is gone now! If I can tackle him, you don't stand a chance! Do you even know what you're doing right now?"

"…Leading the Zerg to slaughter your friends?"

"Richard they're your friends too! Your grandfather and father are with them! You can't be serious about killing them all! What about beyond this? You lose your family, your friends, those that cared for you!"

Richard laughed at this. "Cared for me? All gramps wanted is for me to learn to be just like him! A fool that has nothing more then that little useless base and his fortress! To work with those that have no real place to call their own! And friends? Shademan barely counts, Roll is nothing, and you….YOU…I would have no greater pleasure, then to see your guts splattered across this very dock!"

Richard pulled out an area steal battlechip, and soon enough, was in front of Chad, swinging the Dark Wolf down at him, making him quickly jump back, and use a minibomb battlechip, throwing the small blue object at Richard, exploding on contact.

The moment smoke rose from the explosion, Zerg Veins flew out of it, and Chad just about dodged them by leaping to the side, and using the Blade of Darkness to slice them apart. Then looked to where they came from, and saw, as the damaged remains retracted back into Richard's palm, Richard pointed the Dark Wolf Chads way. A dark purple aura flowed around it for a moment, before firing out, was a mass of energy in the shape of a Wolfs head, mouth open. Chad easily dodged the energy, knowing what it would do. If it came into contact, it would no doubt drain his soul, that weapon fed on the things, and it's the first time Richard used it against him.

Richard unleashed another two of the wolf heads at Chad, who easily dodged them, and while doing so, put his spare hand in his pocket a pulled out an Airshot Battlechip, forming a blue mega buster looking type weapon. He was expected the normal drill off Chad at this point.

Chad quickly turned into his mobian form after the third wolf energy head flew past, and jumped in the air, spinning, ready to perform the homing attack, without seeing what Richard had ready. He fired the Airshot, and a powerful gust of wind flew out, smacking into Chad, just as he was about to trigger the homing attack, and sent him backwards, hitting the metal wall of Junon instead of his Target, effectively confusing him, as he quickly stood up afterwards, looking for Richard, then turning round and spotting him.

Just as a Energy bomb, a small black ball the size of a tennis ball, with three round orange like panels attached to it, flew at him, and on contact, unleashed several blue energy explosions to him, making him yell in pain, and finding himself stumbling back from the blasts.

Richard smirked at this result, and quickly put in another battlechip into his spare hand, Vulcan mk3, it's colouring now orange and black, and holding far more rounds then the original and mk2, and the machine gun like weapon formed on his arm and opened fire, the energy bullets repeatedly hitting Chad, as he tried to weakly defend himself. He triggered a barrier battlechip, stopping the energy bullets for the moment.

But this Richard saw coming. "Useless move Chad!" he pointed the Dark Wolf forward again, and fired the energy wolf head once more, which struck the barrier, destroying it, and forcing Chad to move, just avoiding the head, and once again, getting struck by the rain of bullets.

'Alright Chad, relax, you can take him out, just gotta think fast before he makes another move. He planned ahead for me, his using one hand for chips, the other holding his sword….maybe…' he quickly put his Blade of Darkness away, and changed back into his human form, the bullets stinging more and more with each hit. He rolled to the side at last, and Richard just idly begun to move the Vulcan, reaiming it at where Chad is.

First, Chad quickly shouted out "LIFE SOUL!" and soon enough, was covered by the white aura, the bullets hitting it, and bouncing off. Then, from his pockets, in one hand, Area Steal, the other, a Mega Cannon chip. He formed the red cannon in one hand, and fired it, making Richard just sidestep the shot, then inserted the area steal, and disappeared for a second.

Richard chuckled. "Too easy!" and pointed the Vulcan diagonally up, expecting Chad to appear in the air in front of him…he seemed to flicker there, the Vulcan bullets whizzing past were the brief second image of his body was, but in a green flash he was gone.

"What the?" Richard then looked ahead, didn't see Chad, and spun round, just for Chad nearby him, after using Chaos Control RIGHT after Area Steal, to use the next chip he pulled out with his spare hand. The Blinder chip, causing a flash of white light right in Richards eyes, making him try and cover them with the Vulcan, unable to see.

With Richard momentarily crippled, as distant thunder was heard in the sky above, Chad aimed the Mega Cannon, and in his other hand, formed the original Vulcan, opening fire with both weapons. The blows of the heavy cannon fire, combined with the small bullets of the Vulcan kept making Richard unbalance and stumble backwards, still trying to see and trying to dodge, only to find himself get hit again, then, the attacks seem to stop. Smoke blocking his vision slightly, from the Mega Cannon shots, as he started to be able to see again…only to see a White energy filled beam fly at him, smacking into him, and sending him flying. Bouncing on the ground once, rather hard on his back, then hitting it again, and sliding slightly, before stopping.

He shook his head, and the pain stung like hell, as he slowly stood up again, and found Chad already before him, with two Wide Swords at the ready, and swinging them both diagonally down at him, crossing them as they went, slicing into Richards Chest and stomach, leaving a bloody 'X' mark on his body, rather deep at that, as he stumbled back weakly, disabling the Vulcan at last, and putting his hand on the wound, blood quickly flowing out over his clothing, and dripping to the floor, the rain mixing in.

He was panting, looking at Chad, glaring almost. Chad stood there, looking at him and the wound, the swords, glowing slightly in the darkened light caused by the storm, with stains of Richard's blood on them, quickly being cleaned off and falling to the floor by the rain, before Chad finally disabled both weapons.

"Richard, it's over. You need more then Recovery chips for that deep of a wound. Come back to us and I'm sure Medi can fix you up." Richard seemed to stay silent. Chad was hoping this meant Richard was coming to his senses slowly.

"Richard, I'm more then able to fight back now. And with this Life Soul, you can't win. Don't make me kill you, especially when your fighting for something that's already destroyed."

Richard chuckled darkly, looking at his hand, the blood covering it the rain slowly washing it away, then at the wound, then finally back to Chad. There was a flash in the sky, and after a moment of silence, the sound of thunder in the distance, before Richard spoke again. "Chad…things are different now…when I left Unicron, I changed a little more."

As he stood there, Chad noticed the wound…it was quickly healing, Richards flesh and skin, slowly closing itself back up, rapidly making new pieces to replace the damaged areas. Blood stopped flowing, being washed off by the rain, and soon enough, the only marking left to show where the wound was, was by Richards damaged, blood stained clothing.

"I changed in such a way, that it could be classed as evolution, or a wonderful mutation of my body. Chad…I'm infected, with Zerg DNA. But not just any infection of it. No, Unicron gave me a purpose with this…you see, I'm not only a Zerg…"

Then, Richard yelled out, in sudden pain, clenching his fists, his muscles tensing up, and to Chad's horror, they appeared…one, two, three…twelve Overmind Zerg Claws, ripped out of his back, all connected to new bone sections made by the Zerg gene to match his body structure. They were covered in blood, and had torn out of his jacket and shirt.

"I'm an Overmind."

Oh shit. That was the only thought going through Chad's mind, before Richard lunged at him, grabbing him quickly by the throat, and slamming him hard onto the metal floor of the docks. Then, he raised him up, still holding tight, then threw him, making him slam sidewards into the wall, and hitting the floor face first.

Chad was just getting back on his feet, shaking his head to get the water off his face when he landed in a small puddle, when he spotted Richard getting out a battlechip, and it, literally, going inside the palm of his hand, through the opening where the Zerg veins would come out…and then he knew what battlechip it was, thanks to the claws, which the sharp tips, every one of them, changed into Hi-Cannons, making it twelve of them, all aiming suddenly towards Chad, and opening fire.

Chad used Chaos control, appearing in the air to avoid the first wave of shots, but before he even got any ideas into motion, the second wave was fired, and several shots hit, making Chad yell out in pain, and fall, his focus was rapidly going, because as he hit the ground, he felt a third wave strike him, sliding him across the water covered area, the pain getting worse, before a fourth, then a fifth, leading him back to the wall, as he felt himself hit it, the fifth wave knocking him in the air slightly from the combined explosions, and allowing him to smack into it once more.

He felt battered already. He quickly begun feeling in his pocket for a Recovery chip with his left hand, but just as he pulled it out, looking at it momentarily…it was shattered, by a blade, which had pieced right through his hand, and stabbed into the ground, making him scream out in agony and grit his teeth tightly afterwards, blood oozing out from the damage. It was the Dark Wolf, and as he looked up, trying to see through the raindrops hitting his face…there was Richard, and those claws, normal again.

"Hah. Now look at who needs more then Recovery chips."

Chad tried to move his other hand, to try and foolishly reach for his Blade of Darkness.

That weren't gonna happen, as Richard pulled out the Dark Wolf from Chad's hand, and plunged it into his right lower arm, as he had turned it to reach for the blade on his back, and consequently, the blade went right through, through the higher segment of his arm, and back into the ground, making Chad have tears of pain form in his eyes, mixed with the water, as he cried out in agony, blood splashing out from the double wound.

"Look at you Chad. Look at you. Your nothing, in reality. You can't win. I'm a few steps ahead of you when it comes to one on one."

Chad couldn't move, the pain was washing over him. Was, was he going to die? Richard had him now, even after Unicron, this would be it…

Richard pulled out the sword again, making Chad wince and cry a little more, but as he rose the weapon up, no doubt to target the head, something caught his eye, someone was talking to him. "Master! Master! The Overminds are dead! Reinforcements have come for the humans! You're the last one here to command us! Most of the other Overminds broods have fled the area!"

Richard cursed. "Oh, of all things…ugh…that means we'll get surrounded soon enough. Didn't expect them to make a fight back so soon…"

He motioned the Zerg that was talking to him, as Chad saw, closer, and together, as Richard smirked at Chad, covered themselves in the Zerg veins, and vanished…leaving Chad there, the pain filling his mind, crippled, and alone…

He felt tired, and closed his eyes, letting the pain numb his thoughts…

* * *

"Chad?….Chad?"

Chad found himself waking up, dazed, and exhausted. He slowly begun to open his eyes, weakly saying "Doc, I don't wanna do anymore. I wanna go to bed…"

Then, he noticed it was a female voice, and it belonged to Medi, as his eyes focused. "Chad, I'm a nurse, for starters? And you've been out for about a day already, so no more sleeping."

There she was, before him, looking down at him, as he found himself in the medical area of Junon, his clothing replaced by a grey cover over his body, and a pair of grey pants, and a soft pillow on his head. He slowly looked to his left, then to his right, noticing his wound were healed…well, mostly. His hand was okay, but his other arm, there was plasters over the wounded points.

"Those wounds are taking a little longer to heal Chad. You've got the maximum allowed Recovery chips already in effect, and a few hours in the Kolto healing tank did you a world of good with those wounds."

"Those wounds…" he mumbled. Then looked at her, sitting up slowly. "Medi…what happened? Is everyone okay?"

Medi smiled at him. "Those that are with us, are alright Chad. I can't say the same for the people of the GF mind. They lost a lot of lives in the assault of the Zerg. Thankfully they fled once Rufus brought help. The damage to the place is easily fixable from what I heard. Where we found you if you want to know? Outside on the docks. Xiahou Dun and Samus found you beaten to a pulp and with those horrible sword wounds."

"…That was because of Richard…Damnit, his more gone then I thought he was." Medi looked at Chad in confusion, as to what he meant. "Nevermind Medi. Listen, do I need to stay here anymore? I should get moving. What's the time as well?"

"It's about 12pm Chad. And, I would say your okay to get going. Just make sure you check those wounds after a few hours. The flesh and bone have mostly healed, but the skin is damaged. It'll sting like hell if not healed up yet once the Recovery chips wear off. I suggest a few 50 chip doses to heal you up. A 300 will do it quicker, but you'll be a little high from it, so I suggest against that."

Chad slowly moved himself off the bed, sitting at the side of it, as Medi walked off to a cupboard, and returned, with Chad's clothing, clean and good as new. "Oh Chad, just to let you know, in a few hours Rufus will be doing the speech about the victory over Unicron. He would've done it sooner, but they needed to clear up a little bit of the mess in the offices and such from the Zerg."

Chad nodded, as she looked away, and he got dressed. "Alright, thanks Medi. Hey, why didn't anyone of the GF heal me up? Kinda odd that we're using one of their places to get me sorted out."

Chad just finished getting dressed, putting his sleeveless jacket on, as Medi turned around. "Well, Dr Wily wanted it to remain 'us'. As in he didn't want others to handle our medical needs since we've got perfectly capable members to handle it…aka me."

Chad accepted that, and soon enough, departed from the medical area, and was soon enough, the MOMENT he finally got back to his room, he got a call, from Wily…

* * *

Inside one of the offices, the biggest one, pretty much at the top of Junon, there was a bustling crowd inside, of reporters, from all over the GF. Chad walked in, looking a little annoyed, wading himself through the crowd of them, and eventually, near the end of the office, near the windows, he found Rufus, Picard, Darth Vader, Dr Robotnik, Colonel, Princess Leia, Tomalak, K'Nera, Dr Wily, Dr Light and Darkmega.

He walked over to Dr Wily. "Alright, what now? Has Unicron respawned?"

Wily frowned at him for thinking it was bad news he was going to give. "Chad! This is about you and Darkmega being heroes! You're going on live television with the rest of us for his speech. Remember, you two pretty much saved us from Unicron."

Chad noticed, over one of the windows, there was a new flag. it had the Shinra company Logo on it, but instead of the outline being a diamond on top of a square, it's now just a round, red coloured world shape, with raven like red wings on both sides. "….And what's with the flag?"

"Well Chad, his the new Emperor, this is his first official television appearance, and what he wants to do, is end an old era. His going to rename the Galactic Federation."

Soon, Rufus walked over to him, Dr Wily, Light and Darkmega. "Ah, Chad, Darkmega. Thank you both, for securing the future of the Federation." He gave his hand out for them both of shake. Darkmega did so right away, no problems, Chad was a little hesitant, but eventually done so…he still didn't get a good vibe off Rufus.

Rufus then focused mostly on the docs. "Albert, Thomas, for having these two with you, that saved us, not only will I offer you both a place as a independent group under my new Federation, but also, more, then just the small base at Zebes you have, and the one on Earth X, along with your Fortress Albert."

Both Dr Wily and Light looked at each other, they were expecting now, something along the lines of 'You'll get all new people that are actually my spies to make sure you don't pull anything.'

"I'm going to give you, other places, which you and the members of your hero band, can use. On Gaia X, near the city of Luca, there's a finished military base, that is more designed to be a hold out bunker then anything. That, is now yours. In the capital of Mute Gaia, Mute City, a full on science base sits there rusting away, that also the racer Captain Falcon once owned. It is now yours. Finally, I'm going to send one of the finest construction teams of the Federation to both the Hero Base and Wily Fortress on Earth X, to get them up to scratch, and deploy additional ones to Zebes, to help expand that base of yours there, greatly. To comfort, those that live with you. Finally. I would like to offer those that work with you, thirty free tickets, to none other, then the Mobius edition, the greatest edition, of Twinkle Park, in three days time, including a three course dinner meal of their choice, fully paid by me. Transport included, although it is up to you if you wish to choose a driver of your own or not."

Dr Light and Wily were, to say in the least, gobsmacked. Light was the only one to reply to all that. "I…well, thank you. Thank you so much Emperor. We're honoured by this act of generosity. May, may I ask why?"

Rufus shrugged. "Out of kindness Thomas, out of kindness."

Chad was watching Rufus closely, and Rufus hadn't failed to notice, turning towards Chad once more, just as a few of the reporters came over. Rufus spotted them. "You lot, how about a photo of me and one of the heroes that saved us all from Unicron?"

The reporters and cameramen were eager to accept that, quickly trying to get a decent photo of them together. Rufus looked back at Chad. "You look a little alert Chad, have I done something wrong?"

Chad wasn't going to beat around the bush, just because his Emperor. "No…not yet."

Dr Wily and Light were too busy talking between each other to hear Chad, and Darkmega was just watching carefully.

Rufus smirked a little. "Bold of you to say that Chad. Very bold…your not afraid to speak your mind at all. I could use someone like you."

Chad chuckled bitterly. "Well I'd rather not work for you. I'm happy enough with the docs. Crazy as they are."

Rufus noticed the flash photography starting, and put out his hand once more for Chad to shake, which he did so. "You know, you're a Malyan…I read a lot of history, and your family name came up once…from a time long ago…"

"…What about it?"

Rufus chuckled, closing his eyes for a moment, the opening them. "Nothing, nothing…you must be very proud of what you've done for the Federation."

"…Not really."

Rufus looked to the cameras, checking that Chad was as he turned his head. Chad did so as well, knowing he wanted photos of them both looking. Once the flashing stopped once more, Rufus spoke. "Isn't it interesting, Chad Malyan? You saved the Federation, rotten to the core, just as I rose to power to restore it, and make it much more…it would seem…"

He turned back to Chad, as Chad turned to look at him. "…That we're both, destined, for greater things…"

Chad went silent for a while, before answering. "…Yes…"

Rufus smiled at him, to Chad, it seemed he smiled darkly, before heading over to a desk, just in front of the new flag, the reporters and cameramen all quickly starting to gather round.

Darkmega walked over quickly to Chad. "You alright?"

Chad shook his head. That dark feeling around Rufus had really shown itself with those last words he said to Chad. "No…not with him anyway." then, they were both shifted over towards the desk, by Dr Light and Wily, and joined the likes of Picard and Vader, as everyone eventually fell silent, and one of the reporters said "We're going live in 5.…4.….3.….2.….1!"

Rufus looked to the cameras.

"To the people, of the Galactic Federation, to the people that, suffered, under the power of Keaton, to the people, who I must now watch over, protect, and serve.

I, am your new Emperor. Rufus Shinra. Accepted into power by the now deceased members of the High Ministry court. I am here today, to declare who I am, and to confirm that the threat you may of heard of, the Planet Eater Unicron, has been destroyed.

It was thanks to the united work of our Federation, the United Federation of Planets, the Klingon Empire, the Romulan Star Empire, the Galactic Empire, the Rebel Alliance, and a group, so small, yet so willing, to fight for our cause, the renegade heroes, or to those that may know them, the Hero Base faction.

With out combined strength, we have driven off the monster that would've brought Chaos to this already damaged empire that we've all worked so hard to keep. It was thanks to two brave souls though, above everything, that helped us, stop Unicron. Their names, are Chad Malyan, and Darkmega."

The cameras focused on them both for a moment, then back to Rufus.

"But, now we're beyond Unicron, we must think of what will be next, for this once, rotten, dying empire, choked of its resources and dreams, by the previous Emperor, Keaton Al'Keriff, and the Emperor before him, Armstrong Houston.

First, I have offered out the hand of peace, and friendship, to the United Federation of Planets and the Galactic Empire-Rebel Alliance Unity, to end our wars with them, to stop taking our precious people, your sons, your daughters, your mother and fathers, to the front lines over pointless and bloody wars. They have accepted the hand, and now, we have peace once more.

Second, we will restore order and fully claim what is rightfully ours before this chaos Keaton created for us. There are several worlds that belong to us, which are under the control of other forces, once High Ministers, but now, disbanded, by the loss of so many.

Third, is about those High Ministers. Those who controlled our distance worlds. I want them to come and see me, and speak about what must happen now, that Al'Keriff and Armstrong so painfully put off with our money and our resources, taken from the people we're suppose to watch for. What must happen, is their unconditional submission to the Federation.

There will be, no more major factions controlling us. The only factions I will allow into this Federation, are those that are the size of the Hero Base. It is time for those outsiders to hand over their independence. They may keep their titles and names, but they must confirm that they are a part of this Federation completely, from trade, to military.

I'm going to bring us back to glory. I'm going to restore us. I'm going to free us, and expand us to new places, new worlds, but not by harming our true, valued neighbours.

No longer shall this Federation have the forenamed title of Galactic. No, this is the start of a new era, my era. The Shinra, Federation, era.

Thank you, for your time to listen to me. May the gods Blind Lo and Azrael watch over you all. Thank you."

With that, to the recording screens, the transmission ended, and instead of the old GF flag on the screen, with the words 'stand by', it is now the Shinra Federation flag, to mark this day, in 2045 A.P, the end, of the Galactic Federation, and the Shinra, to rise from it's ashes.


	18. To Twinkle Park

"Tickets to Twinkle Park!? The very one!? Oh my GOD! I gotta have one Wily! Please please please PLEEAASSEEE!"

The voice was Rolls. And right now, she was with Dr Wily, Dr Light, Dr Regal, Dr Yuichiro, Shademan, Darkmega, Medi, Chad and Anna in one of the relaxation rooms of Junon, pretty much just to lay around in and chat to others. Dr Wily had sent the message out across on the com-links about the 30 tickets, telling those that were interested to come and get a ticket while they lasted…Roll was the first person on the scene, dragging Shademan along, who she wanted to come as well to see Twinkle Park himself, regardless of his lack of interest.

The time was 4pm, and things had settled down. No big celebration of Unicrons defeat for them, and if there was one around, none of them were invited. Rufus decided just to have a quiet drink over the fact, while letting his Federation to adjust to the new name, Shinra.

Dr Wily chuckled at Rolls eagerness, and handed her a golden ticket, making her squeal in delight, literally hugging it. "So, I take it you want one too Shademan?"

Shademan shook his head. "Not really, but Roll complained to me I should try the place out."

Dr Wily handed him one. "Enjoy it while you can. It's mostly paid for."

Dr Yuichiro was carrying four tickets. One for himself, his wife, his son, Lan and one for Lan's Girlfriend, Maylu. Dr Regal also had one, wanting to go and enjoy himself a little.

Chad scoffed at the idea of going. "Oh Roll, why do you want to go there? It's a theme park. it's made to drain your cash for rides that'll only last for a little while. Personally I'll get more fun outta running out in the wild of planets, and that's free. Ever been to Green Hill? Refreshing, I'll tell you that much."

Medi gave Chad a strange look. "So…your saying you won't go huh? Never thought you'd turn down a paid entrance and free rides to one of the best places to go for leisure and relaxing."

"Not my kinda place really. It's all neon lights and cheery music. It's not my spot."

Dr Wily looked a little disappointed. "Oh? that's a shame, I kept 2 tickets especially for you and Darkmega…if you don't want it though.."

Chad shook his head. "Nope. I'm good. I'd rather stay here and keep a close eye on Rufus when I can thanks. I still get a chill down my spine when I think of that ginger haired git."

Roll overheard this, and felt her heart sink a little. She was kinda hoping Chad would wanna go. Dr Wily shrugged. "Very Well. I'm sure someone else will enjoy the fun that's to offer there."

Then Anna spoke up. "I got a ticket Chad."

Chad quickly looked over to her. She just got a ticket off Dr Light, holding it and smiling.

Chad looked at her face, then at the ticket.

Then her again. Something clicked.

He quickly turned his head back to Dr Wily. "Give me that goddamn ticket doc."

Dr Wily was taken aback. "Huh?"

"I want that ticket. Now."

Dr Wily handed it to him, surprised at the sudden change of heart, until he noticed Anna was holding one, and smiled slyly. "Oh, I see…well, the place IS designed for couples as well as people looking for fun…and your both young and full of energy."

Chad wasn't going to deny it. "She easily wins me over, what can I say?"

Darkmega soon walked over and got his ticket off Wily. He had to be honest, he wasn't really sure about just going there for fun. "Hey…this, Twinkle Park thingy…is it really for me? I mean, I'm Darkmega, ya know."

Medi smiled, and walked over next to him. "Doctor, may I go as well? I'll keep a…close eye, on Darkmega." She was looking at Darkmega.

Dr Wily passed her one. "I don't see why not. Just don't make too quick, moves, on the poor lad. His still only getting used to living around us."

"Oh don't worry, I'll make sure I'll be easy on him."

Whatever they were going on about, it flew over Darkmega right now. He was looking at Medi, and felt that floating feeling in him, the emotions his allowed free doing their part…she was cute, really cute, and sexy, he had to admit it. He felt his cheeks go red ever so slightly. "W-what?"

Chad knew, smirking. "Oh, you'll see Darkmega."

All six of them left the docs alone now, heading off down a nearby corridor, as Keira, Zelda and Link walked past them, heading to the doctors for the tickets. Roll was annoyed slightly. Of COURSE if Anna is going, Chad would follow…she had to mentally bash herself for thinking otherwise. He fancies the panties off Anna. It's simple.

* * *

Rufus was sitting in the office of Junon, feet crossed on the desk, leaning back, hands on the back of his head. He was soon to sort out the business of organising what is officially the Shinra Federations. He needed to chart out what was rightfully theirs.

Once he had done so, he knew what it would lead to. It was planning to confirm that several planets of the Protoss and the Wisdom Sayians rightfully belong to him, while everything that the Evil Ministry, Hero Ministry and what King Mickey owned fully belonged to the Federation. He wasn't going to allow them to hold their little powers in his territory.

He knew aiming for all planets of the Protoss and Wisdom Sayians was too high of a target right now, he needed to make a stable footing in their areas first…

Lay the foundations, for his ambitions, for his dreams…

That's when he heard the voice of Dr Robotnik, walking in, sounding like he was cursing. He heard Robotnik's footsteps, and then three others, two humanoid sounding, one was machine, heavy at that. Rufus didn't bother looking, just keeping his eyes on his feet, as if examining his shoes, as he heard all four footsteps come close to his desk.

"Emperor Rufus! These three want some, personal items back from our Federation since the fall of the Galactic. I've told them that whatever was taken in Keatons time still rightfully belonged to us and they cannot simply just barge in and say-" it was Robotnik talking.

Rufus sighed a little. "-What do they want?"

"They want the items known as the Chaos Emeralds Emperor." Robotnik looked at the three with him with a hint of disgust. It was Shadow, Rouge and E123 Omega, who was watching Robotnik every second. "They claim they were taken away from them once they begun to serve Keaton. They were known as 'Team Dark' Prior to their hire here. They are now in aliment, so they claim, with the Hero Base Faction."

Shadow looked away from Robotnik, folding his arms over his chest, as Rouge spoke up. "Our aliment right now is not what matters. We want what Keaton stole from us. We had the seven Chaos Emeralds under our care since Knuckles left angel island. Six were taken by Keaton when he threatened us at point blank for even having them, claiming they would better serve the Federation then us. We managed to beg for one, but the rest were taken. We're only asking for what's ours back, Emperor Rufus. Then we'll be on our way."

Rufus was quiet for a moment. "…Your allegiance does not matter, you claim. But it does to me. I know and read some about these Chaos Emeralds. They hold a lot of power. Dangerous power at that. And are ancient artefacts, perfect for a museum once we've drained whatever we can use out of them. I'm surprised Keaton did let you keep one. I know where they are held in Midgar. Keaton kept them close."

He moved his hands off his head, and crossed his arms. " I see little reason to allow a petty mercenary group like yours, which will soon no doubt terminate their work with the Hero Base Faction, have such powerful items in their mits. In fact, you should be stripped of the last emerald to complete our collection. Then we won't seem silly when we place only six of them in the museum, claiming the 7th is missing, when we precisely know where it is."

Rouge didn't like the sound of this, nor did Omega, as he turned his head to Rufus, changing one of his hands into the machine gun, as if showing he'll attack if need be. Shadow decided to speak. "What would it take to get them back Rufus?"

There was a silence, as Rufus was seen looking up at the ceiling. Robotnik laughed a little. "Get them back? Those precious emeralds? They'll never return to you! I see no reason as to why you even should get a chance! Their power will surely help us improve our technology and scientific discovery in energy!"

Rufus gave a slight smirk, as he closed his eyes. "They cannot be returned to you. Not directly anyway. But there are ways to get items back that have been, so called, 'stolen'. "

Dr Robotnik quickly looked at Rufus in slight disbelief. Rufus continued. "You need to strip yourselves of your mercenary rank, and join either the Shinra Federation, which most likely will not allow you the emeralds, or join a faction that I know will be loyal to the federation…aka, the Hero Base Faction. If you did so, then I would be inclined to hand over the emeralds to the doctors of the faction for research. Which, in a sense, they would belong to you again, if you explained it to them… and knowing Dr Light, he wouldn't keep what belongs to someone else. Of course…"

He moved his feet off his desk, sat forward, and leaned on the desk with his arms. "…IF you decide to leave them before a years service is made to the Hero Base Faction, you would be placed on the bounty lists across the Federation, and wanted solely dead for the emeralds, and let me tell you, it'll be such a high price, alot of bounty hunters would risk their lives to take you all down for those shiny stones."

Shadow knew by the look Rufus was giving, that little smirk of 'I would do it if you dared me, and much more. I win.', Rufus had them with this. He looked to Rouge, then Omega.

Rouge sighed in defeat. "Well, I suppose we ain't got much of a choice then…we certainly won't be joining your Federation though."

An hour later…

"I don't know Ridley…are you sure they won't leg it the second we get the emeralds? Stealing them from us in no time? They look the shady sort. I know we take a few in, but I'm not too happy about these three…" it was Dr Wily, speaking to, of course, Ridley, who had Shadow, Rouge and Omega with him. Dr Regal was present, as was Dr Yuichiro and Dr Light.

They were talking at one of docks. Dr Wily and the others had gone out for a little fresh air, then Shadow and his two allies had fetched Ridley, the one that 'hired' them in the first place away from the GF to speak on their behalf, gain support in asking to join the Hero Base. Of course, in exchange IF they do join the base, Rouge had to let Ridley off the deal with the crystals on Zebes…and it was painful for her to do so, but the idea of seeing all seven emeralds again, and the fact Ridley admitted that the Crazian Crystals were actually worth shit, made her let them go.

Ridley was told about the whole deal Rufus set up with them on how the system will work for them to obtain the emeralds, and he in turn told the docs.

"Hey hey, Docs, Wily, come on. I trust them easy enough. I think they'll stick around without trying to steal them. Shadow is honest enough." Ridley said.

Shadow had his arms crossed. "We'll stay for a year as Rufus said we had to, then we're taking them and leaving."

Ridley looked at him, frowning, knowing that didn't help their cause, as he had left THAT part out on purpose to sweeten it to the docs, before looking at Wily again. "See? Honest."

Dr Wily had to admit that was rather straight up of Shadow. "…Thomas?"

Dr Light nodded. "I'd say let them join us. We could use those emeralds ourselves anyway. I heard they hold vast power, perhaps we can use it for our bases somehow? We'll have to look into it and all that, but it'll be none the less useful."

Dr Wily looked to their sons. Both nodded in agreement with what Dr Light said, then he turned to Team Dark, very soon to be ex-Team Dark. "Alright, your in. I'll contact Rufus as soon as. Welcome aboard. We'll set you up once we relocate to one of our bases."

Ridley smiled, looking at Shadow, Omega and Rouge, who were thankful that they got in, before all four left the doctors alone. The doctors soon turned and looked out to the sea, standing near the edge of the dock.

Dr Regal soon talked, once they were sure they were alone. "Speaking of bases…Rufus must've known we were around a certain one before to decide we should get it back after the days of the pre-Keaton GF and SCI."

Dr Yuichiro knew this was coming. "I know. We have that one once again. Science Base G821. On Planet Mute, Mute City. It's been so long since we've even heard anything about it. I thought it was fully dismantled. You know, after all the incidents and investigators trying to get in on it, Houston felt it needed to be removed. Strange that Captain Falcon of all people then got it…hm, maybe we should talk to him about it when we have the chance. I believe Samus knows his com-link number."

Dr Light closed his eyes, feeling the sea breeze. "Worst still. We have one of them from there with us now. We did have two but of course, one is now evil…do you think her memories will resurface of the place Albert?"

Dr Wily chuckled a little, holding onto his staff, looking at Thomas and the others. "We can't be sure Thomas. We said it was a random chance her human memories may come back or not. But that's if we even need to place her and the others there. As long as we have the other four places under us, she'll never need to go near it. None of the 'children' with us will. We can go there when we want. If we need to move there for whatever reason, we'll make sure everyone keeps to the top level only. If they wander to the second level, I'm sure the old ghosts of the past would scare them right back up, and they'll demand us to seal the entrances anyway. We've got all the spots covered. That dark history can remain with us and us only. The project doesn't need to be discussed about again across the Federation."

* * *

Two days passed. By now, the forces of those outside the new SF, Shinra Federation, had left, leaving Rufus with two allies, and inner business to clear up. He knew he had to speak with the remaining ministers sooner or later. Yuan Shao was already dealt with.

That was easy enough. He was a man of the now, and chose to stand by the new generation, and claiming a position of watcher. Meaning he now was the spokesman between the SF and the Hero Base. Dr Light and Wily didn't mind, as it kept Yuan Shao happy.

Rufus was walking down one of the corridors of Junon. It was 10am in the morning. No guards to watch him as he requested. With Yuan Shao subdued so easily, there was no major head the five outside ministers could back. He knew though, that some of them would try to stand up to him, once his plans were written out, and his new map was finished. He was planning to finish it tonight, as he wanted to head to Twinkle Park himself. Catch a break for a while before pinning himself down to business.

Of course, he didn't want to go alone. Twinkle Park was more fun for couples. It was good for a group of people, but it had places where couples would get the best out of it…and then he saw Anna, just leaving her room. She spotted him, as he begun to walk up to her. "Ah, there you are."

She was quite surprised. "Oh, Emperor Rufus-"

"Call me just Rufus."

"-Rufus. What can I do for you?"

Rufus crossed his arms for a moment. "Well, I need to ask you something. It's about Twinkle Park. I'm going there myself when those of your faction are departing, as need a break before I settle into this new position. I was wondering if you can do something for me?"

Anna quickly added it up in her head. Twinkle Park, and he was going to ask her something. She smiled politely. "I'm sorry Rufus. I know what you want to ask, and, I'll have to turn you down. See, you're cute and all, and I know your in power now, but I already have plans to go with someone. Chad Malyan? Ya know, the guy that helped stop Unicron and all, kinda wanna be his girlfriend and he likes me back…So, yeah, I'm sorry and all…I would, if Chad didn't exist but…"

Rufus shook his head, in slight annoyance. "I don't wish to go out with you. You are a friend of one Amy Rose, are you not? Zhang He told me you knew her quite well."

Anna looked genuinely surprised. Amy Rose? THE Amy Rose? She wasn't a member of the Hero Base group, but Anna knew her on Mobius, were she chose to stay once her and Sonic had a heated argument on their first date, when he finally decided to give her a chance. She was invited to come to the base, but flatly refused when Sonic said he would go.

"Well, I have her com-link number, if that's what you want…why do you want to talk to her of all people?"

"Put it simply, my first visit to Mobius a few years ago was rather depressing. Then I bumped into her, and she showed me all the best places to go, and even was my tour guide of the main city metropolis….I simply want to get to know her better. By getting to know her better, I wish to take her to Twinkle Park with me."

Anna knew this might be a little problem. "Umm…she was, well, in her Mobian state when she showed you around, right?"

"Of course."

Oh boy.

Not all Mobians like taking a human form like Chad. Knuckles, Tails and Sonic were all fine examples of this. And of course, there was a negative feeling when a human and a Mobian who prefers to stay in their animaloid form get together…

"Well Rufus, she uh, likes to stay that way all the time…Ya know, Mobian, and you're not a Mobian. You're a pure humanoid."

Rufus shrugged. "So?"

"….Huh?"

"That's fine with me. that's the form I had taken a liking to anyway, so what's her number then?"

Anna told him, and just, stared at him, as he walked away, before mumbling to herself. "Boy oh boy, if she accepts his offer, it'll be flying all the over the news headlines if they're spotted.."

A few hours on…

"You Serious? Amy goddamn Rose? Of all the people the new emperor wants to hit off with, and it's a Mobian that prefers to be in their normal state, and is Amy Rose?" the shocked speaker was Chad.

He was sitting with Shademan, Roll, Darkmega, Anna, Zhang He and Charlie in one of Junon's bars. They were gathered round a metal table, sitting on chairs, around them, neon blue lighting of the place, and several other customers, all talking amongst themselves.

Anna sighed. "YES Chad. Amy Rose."

Charlie blinked for a moment, before readjusting his glasses, closing his eyes for a moment, wondering if this was real or not. Their new emperor could well be into doing animals. "Anna, do you think Rufus knows about all the issues, around Humans and pure Mobians? The whole taboo belief and that it's seen in a very negative light?"

"Well I assume he certainly does Charlie. Look in the end if his fine with it, then it's okay, right?"

Zhang He looked disgusted. "Ugh, to mate with a furry thing, it makes me feel sick!"

Shademan looked at his glass of red wine he was holding, seemingly thinking for a moment, before speaking. "On the topic of things to do with Twinkle Park, I hear we have now a total of 32 people going…isn't that right Zhang He?"

Zhang He smiled proudly, as Anna looked at him curiously. "I and Pang Tong are going to be watchers of you all on this little wonderful trip! Pang Tong was nominated the driver of the transport ship, and while I am the bodyguard of Anna, I decided to explain to the doctors that we needed to get inside Twinkle Park, to make sure everyone stays safe and sound! especially my dear Anna!"

Chad frowned in annoyance. "I'm sorry. 'bodyguard'?" He turned his head to Anna.

She shrugged innocently. "Chaos could be around still Chad. He suggested it, and I said okay."

"So now the goddamn bodyguard is coming with us…" Chad cursed.

Zhang He nodded. "Well of course! AFTER much persuasion they have decided to pass us the money to pay our tickets when we arrive and granted us a small sum of cash to go and enjoy ourselves along with all of you! They knew they cannot interfere with my duty as a bodyguard, and Pang Tongs duty of…of…" he seemed to stop for a moment, trying to actually think of something that would clarify Pang Tongs reason to be in Twinkle Park. "Of…well, being a hobo!"

Charlie shook his head and went back to drinking a green alcoholic beverage in a pint glass, apparently called 'Forester.', it smelled like peppermint. Roll giggled "Well, I guess we do need a Hobo walking around the place while we have some fun."

"God I fucking hope he doesn't start begging for cash and rummaging around in dustbins. Blind Lo should strike him with a bolt of pure lightning if he does.." Chad mumbled, drinking his Dr Pepper.

Darkmega seemed to stare at his drink of Dr Pepper, not out of worry of what it was or anything, as Anna got him and Chad the same, just so Darkmega could try it out, but just lost in the thoughts of what Twinkle Park is. His time of being inside his Light Self, before splitting into his own being, had no memories of the place in question, and Medis eagerness to go with him got him worried. "Chad…what's Twinkle Park like?"

Chad smirked at him. "Oh don't worry about it Darkmega…it's a place of fun, and a place to get close to certain people you may like. Medi knows that. She'll…look after you."

"Look, after me? Is it dangerous then?"

Roll snickered at this, before Chad responded. "Heh, no Darkmega. Well, okay it might be, if your not sure about girls or guys, depending what you like. As I said, Medi will look after you and, point you, in the right direction."

"Soo, it's easy to get lost in? And it's about being unsure about girls or guys?"

Shademan was grinning now, as Chad was getting a tad annoyed with Darkmega being blank about this. "Darkmega, it's a place of groups of people, and couples. Your going with Medi, that'll make you a couple. that's what she wants. Okay? She wants you and her to get together and…well…dunno how you Navis describe it. Cyber?"

"….She wants me to go into the net with her?"

Shademan burst out laughing, while Roll was giggling, before putting her hands over her mouth, trying to stop, as Chad quickly glared at her, then looking at Darkmega. "No no! she wants to, ya know, the birds and the bees?"

"…The what and the what?"

Charlie was seen trying not to laugh, thanks to Chad looking flustered, not wanting to explain sex to Darkmega. "It's something you need to know! I mean, don't you, I mean, you used to insult me about it! Back in Ridley's bar Goddamnit!"

"I'm basing it off what little knowledge Megaman had about so called girlfriends! I know about that a penis is meant to be vital to something in a relationship!"

This got Roll so, so bad. She was turning away from Chad and Darkmega, and was heard laughing behind her hands covering her mouth still. Anna tried to help out now. "Darkmega, when a Male and a Female love each other very much, they, sorta…couple. Ya know, in the bedroom. Or knowing Medi and what shes like, anywhere which is private."

"…couple?"

Anna was quickly trying to make sound as simple as possible. "Well the male inserts the penis into the vagina…for pleasure, and to have a child….mostly for the former though."

Darkmega didn't look like the information had gone through, but he tried to add it up in his mind. "Okay…well, uh, where is the vagina?"

"…well, it's in the same area…as the penis."

Darkmega looked shocked. "Wait women have penises?"

Anna just sighed. "No. thats not what I…oh screw it. Look, Medi is bound to show you during Twinkle Park."

Chad smirked. "Gave up quick enough, didn't you?"

"I can't explain it fully to him, I just can't. it should be between two guys afterall…hey Charlie-"

Charlie quickly shook his head. "Ain't happening."

"Shademan?"

Shademan shook his head as well.

"….Zhang He?"

Zhang He just looked away, pretending not to notice.

"…Oh Goddamnit." Anna looked at Chad.

"Oh come on Anna! You know I can't! it's just…no! I can't!" Chad wanted to get out of this, right now.

"Chad, you can always give him hints during Twinkle Park. We don't want him to get isolated and worried about whats going to happen. Just, ya know, give the hints as we go along."

Darkmega was relieved about this, but Chad wasn't. "Hold on, but that'll mean he'll be hanging around with us while we're there!"

"It's better then things going wrong Chad. Come on, his a friend."

Chad wanted to slam his head on the table, he really, REALLY wanted to.

* * *

The day of the trip arrived.

Several Transport ships had left Gaia VII, four were heading in different directions, three, carried those that were due for Mobius. One of them carried the 32 that were from the Hero Faction, all sitting in together, on a 40 set seating onboard the transport vessel. Two of the people were up front, Zhang He, and Pang Tong, the actual pilot of the ship. The chairs of the actual passengers were lined in straight rows of 10. The chairs were that of a modern aircraft type, the cushioned type, but not really the most comfortable thing you've sat on, all a dull blue, with black seatbelts, which were in the shape of a cross over the torso, connecting right in the middle by a buckle.

On the first row, from left to right, was Yuan Shao, Dr Regal, Hakura Hikari, Dr Yuichiro, Zhuge Liang, Mario, Luigi, Zelda, Link and Samus. There was already slight tension going on, on this row, thanks to Hakura being in the middle of her Husband, and the guy that pretty much flirts with her whenever he gets the chance. Regal is already saying how beautiful she looks today, and how a wonderful flower can be married to such a dull fungus. Yuichiro has already said his piece back, then asked his wife to ignore the creature called Regal Wily…doesn't stop her listening to his enticing words mind.

On the second row, was Charlie, Sun Ce, Da Qiao, who is Sun Ce's wife, Sonic, Jak, and for free, Daxter was with him on his shoulder, Roll, Shademan, Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan and Keira. It was questionable for Daxter to tag along, as Dr Light and Dr Wily weren't sure if pets would be allowed, due to the confusing nature of Mobius's rules at times, especially about humanoid pets. Daxter was not happy by being classed as that.

The third row and last one that was filled up, was Maylu, Lan, Chad, Anna, Medi, Darkmega, Sun Jian, Sun Shang Xiang, Liu Bei and finally Cao Cao…he was PISSED when he was the last one on board, and had a choice between sitting next to goddamn Liu Bei, or sit at the back and be a loner. Even Xiahou Dun and Yuan didn't want to move. He just wanted to punch Liu Bei so, so bad right now, just for simply going all flirty with his Wife next to him, and then having to hear him talk about how his benevolent rule back in Shu on Earth V appears to be going well.

Sun Jian, Sun Shang's father, wanted to do the same to Liu Bei, as in sock him in the face. He always was pissed off when she chose to marry him, and sitting there right now listening to him, urged him more so to be like Cao Cao.

Pang Tong has heard using the communication computer on the ship, speaking to the captain of one of the other vessels. "So…We sure that's the safest route to Mobius? Because last I recall these ships aren't armed with anything decent."

The voice responded was female, sounding in her 40's, and deep. "Yes. Emperor Rufus and Dr Ivo Robotnik have confirmed this."

"Well alright then, just so you know, if, anything does happen, I'll be flying myself outta any trouble. Don't plan on dying in any of these things."

"…You're quite cowardly aren't you?"

"That I am ma'am, and proud of it. Kept me alive back on my planet when my lord was trying to found his own kingdom. Never go into anything I can't win, and with this ship, I'm guaranteed to never win against anything."

With that, the communication channel was terminated. Zhang He looked at him in slight disgust. "Do you not even believe in trying, regardless of the odds?"

"Nope."

"Even if everyone's lives were at stake?"

"Zhang He, I'm a hobo. Of Liu Bei's kingdom of Shu. Also, one of his tacticians. My plans always include backing off and even the odds to make a very good chance of winning, with fire, traps, whatever. It's my style, much like my style of not washing often."

Zhang He looked away, looking more disgusted then before. "And here I thought that smell was coming from one of the others…"

Yuan Shao was very relaxed about the whole thing, he'd been to Twinkle Park before, and loved every moment of it…so he was saying to Regal anyway. "The sights and sounds were just fantastic when I last visited! To see the smiles on everyone's faces! The food! The drink! The games you could play! And the sight of those rides! Oh how everyone seemed to love them!"

Dr Regal had noticed that he wasn't saying much about the main attraction of Twinkle Park…the said rides, especially of any experience. "Yuan Shao, did, you even go, on any rides? At all, during Twinkle Park?"

Yuan Shao looked a little horrified. "Me?! On those beastly things!? Don't be silly! Those are for commoners! I simply enjoyed the food and candy there was on offer! I must say they really know how to make candy floss! The finest sugar in the universe is used for it, I'm positive!"

"…You need to try the rides. You can come with me and the beautiful Hakura if you want."

Yuichiro overheard him, and coughed loudly to signal he did. Dr Regal ignored it. "I'm sure we won't mind you joining us Yuan."

Yuan Shao shook his head. "The rides are perfect for you, not, for me. I am of noble rank, and I will never, ever, attempt those things."

Keira was busy sitting back in her chair, relaxing, eyes closed. Ever since they were on the prison ship, these days have been the most relaxing for her. No computers to keep checking, no goddamn door checks, or hologram room clean ups and tests, just her and reading about robots. And this whole Twinkle Park business is just the thing she needs, or so Zelda said.

She was attempting, mostly right now, to ignore Xiahou Yuan next to her, who was busy playing on a small, handheld black console, with a screen and a directional pad, with two buttons, playing Tetris. The music and the beeps were loud, as Yuan had left them on max volume.

Yuan was looking tense at the screen. "Come on, I just need another straight one, come on, Damnit, not another square! Not now! Alright, just place it over here…"

Xiahou Dun looked over idly at what his cousin, or as they called each other "brother", was doing. "…How's it going?"

"Almost got it brother! I can beat the high score, I know I can! I just need the right one!"

The beeping, the music, the goddamn music, to Keira's slightly more sensitive ears. It was getting too much, then, Xiahou Yuan was heard cheering himself a little "Oh Yeah! I got a new high score at last! Oh yeah! Who's the best? Xiahou Yuan is, that's who! After three months I finally-" he stopped dead, as he saw Keira looking at him, glaring.

He went quiet, as her glare got to him. The music still playing, then, doing a little game over theme to signal he forgot to set anymore, and the blocks had filled up. He just turned it off, and mumbled weakly "sorry." before looking down, away from her glare, before she settled down herself again. Xiahou Dun chuckled at this.

Chad was just relaxing himself, when he felt Lan nudge him a little. He looked at him. "What? What is it?"

Lan was looking worried, and whispered "Hey…uhh…Chad? How do you kiss?"

Chad looked annoyed. "….are you fucking serious? Lan, your 14 now. Hasn't your father said anything? Ya know? About the birds and the bees? Or even a hint to simple matters?"

"Well, I, uh, thought you would know.."

"Lan…Look I can't say much about it, okay? I'm still new to the whole thing myself still. I haven't scored yet." Chad said.

Lan looked a little surprised. "Oh, it's just, before we left, Anna said to ask you, since your also helping Darkmega out."

Chad quickly turned his head, looking at Anna, who was idly looking away, pretending to whistle, not noticing him. "…Anna, don't even try to act like you know nothing about this. You did it on purpose didn't you?"

She looked at him, pretending to be bewilded at what he said. "Who? Little old me? Trying to annoy you a little? Oh Chad, don't be so silly!"

He sighed, as Anna chuckled after that. "Goddamnit Anna…"

"Oh relax, we'll have a wonderful time when we get to Twinkle Park." she said to him, then, giving him a little kiss on the cheek, making him go red slightly. Then, she leaned in a little. "Hey hero. Maybe I should reward with a little more then a simple kiss on the cheek…"

Chad was going redder, but decided to comply, leaning close, and him and Anna locking lips. Kissing gently. He loved it, every mili second of her soft lips on his. But he couldn't focus on it entirely. He noticed Darkmega was looking, and he felt two eyes behind him watching…

Lan was watching with keen interest, leaning over slightly. Chad stopped the kiss, flicking Lan quickly on the nose, making him move his head back. "Ow hey!"

"Well we can't enjoy a kiss when eyes are watching everywhere Lan. There, lesson one, try to avoid people wanting to learn when your still learning fully yourself. That means when me and Anna kiss, you look away." Looks over at Darkmega. "Same for you."

Darkmega was surprised. "Hey! I was just watching the show! I know how to Kiss…kinda!"

Medi was looking at him, as he noticed when he looked over to her. "Oh don't worry, by the end of our trip, you'll have a lot of experience."

Darkmega raised an eyebrow slightly at her, as she chuckled sweetly. "R…Really?"

Anna smirked at Chad. "Well remember Darkmega, Chad is here to help you and Lan if you both feel you need guidance."

Chad glared at her playfully. "Stop being a little cow Anna."

"I can't help it. Seeing you get annoyed over it is cute."

* * *

Mobius, the prime home world to the Mobian race.

There was a lot of trouble between the Mobians and Humanoids when contact was first made, and after there was plenty of animalist views going around. Humans claiming Mobians were beneath them, calling them salvage animals, monsters, freaks of nature and so on and so forth.

Once the Mobians expanded from their world onto several others during the time of SCI, the views of Mobians has improved greatly, as they showed themselves to be loyalists to the empire regardless of it's leader, believing that eventually, peace will reign if they all work with each other. In the military, most specialists are of Mobian descent. Of course, there are still Humans who think of them as lower class regardless, Yuan Shao is one such person.

He once delivered, long before he met Chad, Anna and Sonic, papers to either wipe the Mobian race out, or declare them outcasts and remove them from the worlds they live on, both Mobians that are willing to stay in a humanoid form and those that wish to stay in their animal state. This was turned down by the now deceased Dante Yuki, who knew of their powerful loyalty.

Since then, once Yuan Shao actually met Mobians for the first time, aka Sonic, Chad and such, his view of them has improved, if only a little. He regards Chad and that of the Hero Faction as special friends that are excused for what they are. He still has distain for them.

This was shown once the transport ship landed, and they all departed from it. There was a purple walrus in a blue maintenance outfit quickly speaking to Pang Tong about the ship and saying about a check over while they enjoyed their stay, Yuan Shaos look in disgust followed by raising his nose up and walking past the creature was seen by Anna and Chad.

They had landed on a docking port in a place called Station Square, one of major cities on Mobius. The docking bay was placed just by the major beach of the city in the years of development, for the easy access to the main income of this 20th centaury looking city, as the two other transport ships were coming down to land near their own.

Beyond the docking port, it was there, pretty much in Station Square, and dominating it now.

Twinkle Park.

It had expanded over the years greatly. Now a prime entertainment resort to the Federation, it was given several loans to improve itself to new levels. Now fully covered by a metallic dome, four to five miles wide, it looked like a huge metal ball with a few entrances into it. This was far from the case. The metal part itself was formed by a huge amount of holographic emitters, so it's not designed to protect whatever inside, but to form a certain image, inside.

The place was called 'The forever night' for a reason, when it was daytime on Mobius, the holo emitters would trigger, the casing forms, and inside the sudden metal dome, that side of the plating would be showing the stars still to the guests, as if the sun never came up, leaving them in the wonderus illusion that 'their special night will never end.'. the bill for all this energy used is high, very damn high, but the Federation don't complain.

With all the rides on offer, the hotels and restaurants you could go to, arcades by the hundreds, shops to buy nearly anything from, it's a paradise for all to see. And everyone who's been there has told anyone that they know it's legendary.

Sonic went in there once. And from what his said, he hated it. Then again, Amy Rose was present inside when it was the days she fancied him to the extreme, so it's kinda useless to listen to Sonic opinion when it's mostly "Goddamnit I kept praying to damn GOD that she would leave me alone, and when I thought she has, those damn rides hid her from my view!"

Station Square still looked the same as Chad and the others left it. Mostly now a port for the other worlds to come and see Mobius. The sun was beaming down brightly on the place, blue sky, little in the way of clouds. Chad loved it, he could easily just leave everyone and change into his mobian form, running around…with Anna following after him, in one of the vehicles, both of them getting away from everyone else, get to a secluded spot on the planet, get close…

His little trail of thoughts faded as Pang Tong begun to lead them all to the ticket booths near the metal dome of twinkle park, him noticing Chad seemingly just stand there, just as everyone else was ready to get moving. "Hey kiddo? You okay there?"

Chad nodded, noticing he had gone into his own world for a moment. Soon, they got the ticket booths, several different mobians manned them, all in their humanoid forms. Sonic and Chad knew right away though. Mobians had a sense around them on letting them know if fellow comrades were present.

"Alright everyone, pass the tickets to me and I'll hand them in." Pang Tong said.

Soon, the 30 tickets were passed down to the hobo, and he looked at a woman in the booth, passing her the tickets and saying "Oh, and two passes please, for me and my friend here." Motioning at Zhang He, who was busy feeling his hair, as if checking it was all nice and neat still.

"Standard or luxury pass like the others? Standard is entrance but you'll have to get chips to spend on the rides. Luxury means unlimited rides." the lady said.

"Eh, I'll go standard. Just wanna snack and sit around mostly. Zhang He most likely will wanna go on the rides with Anna."

"That'll be 22,000 gil please."

Pang Tong passed her the cash, then, he received thirty one tickets that were light blue, with a gold line in the middle. On one side was the words, in neat handwriting, copied of course 'TWINKLE PARK LUXURY!'

He passed them out, then got his plain white ticket, with the simple words 'Twinkle Park Ticket' on. Showed the difference between the two types alright. "Alright everyone, follow me. Once we're inside, I suggest you all keep to pairs or small groups. Don't stick with me mind, I'm just gonna be sitting around. Dr Light said to give you all 15 hours, then I'll call you lot to say when times up. Just leave and return to the docking bay."

Samus, Keira then Chad felt something jump on their shoulders, then quickly off them, before Pang Tong felt the thing land on his shoulder, looking at it, noticing it was Daxter, a little unhappy with the time limit, standing on the shoulder, arms crossed. "Hey Hobo! When the heck did this time span come into play? This is Twinkle Park, we should be allowed to stay as long as we want!"

"Well I would love to say that's alright little guy, but what the doc says, goes. He doesn't want all of you to suffer from lack of sleep, especially when Twinkle Park can easily screw up your thinking of what time it is."

"Forget sleep man! This is fun times! I vote 72 hours of bliss instead of this tiny 15 hour limit!" he rose his little furry orange hand, looking to the others. "Anyone with me on this?"

Sun Ce nudged Jak, as they were slightly further to the back of the group. "Hey, uh, shouldn't you, tell him to get down or something? Isn't he your pet…ish?"

Jak shook his head. "Nope. Daxter is what you see. Couldn't control him even if I wanted to."

Then the woman in the booth spoke up. "Um, excuse me? Is, that person with you?" Motioning at Daxter.

Pang Tong nodded, as Daxter started to look around for any raised hands. "Yep. Cute little thing, isn't he?"

"…Sir, if you include him, you have 33 visitors. You only have 32 tickets. I'm sorry, but you'll either have to pay for him or he'll have to stay out."

Daxter heard his, his worry about the time limit gone. He jumped off Pang Tong's shoulder, landed just at the little metal ledge of the ticket booth, in front of the woman. "Wait what!? But, but I'm small! I'm with my buddy Jak here!" he quickly turned around, looking for him. "Jak! Jak! Get over here man! Right now!"

Jak looked at the others, then politely asked a few to let him pass, as he begun to walk up to where Daxter was. Not wanting to cause any hassle, all he wanted to do right now was smack Daxter in the back of the head and tell him to shut up.

The woman sighed. "I'm sorry sir, but you count. You need pay for a ticket."

Daxter was about to start up a little shitstorm, when Jak finally got to the booth. "Settle down Daxter. I'm sorry about the trouble, his classed as more of a pet then a person. That's okay, right?"

Daxter was now about to have a go at Jak, but he noticed the guy glaring at him, giving him the look of 'Argue now, I'll batter you to death.'. Daxter turned back towards the lady, smiling sweetly.

This made it kinda worse. "I'm sorry sir. But pets are not allowed."

Daxter stared in disbelief. "I don't believe this. Are you serious!? Come on, I won't piss on the floor or crap on someones candy floss!"

Jak tried to back this up. "His well trained and human enough. He won't cause any trouble whatsoever."

"I'm sorry sir. It's the rules. All kinds of pets are to be refused entrance to the park and must be left within their transports."

Yuan Shao was getting sick of the delay, and decided to join in, using his position of power. He walked up to the ticket booth, making Pang tong moved out of the way. "Miss? I, am the High Minister Yuan Shao, of the now Shinra Federation! And I demand that for this time only, this creature, known as Daxter, is to be allowed into Twinkle Park, under my personal care! If he is not allowed entry, I will personally speak to the Emperor about your unwillingness to cooperate! Is that fully clear?"

The woman stared at him blankly for a moment, as the others went quiet. "….Okay I'm gonna need to see some ID sir."

"..I-I-identification?"

"Yes sir. I assume you have some to confirm who you are? Because if you don't, I have the right to contact the police and have you arrested…then perhaps Daxter then can have your ticket instead."

Yuan Shao quickly felt his suit, putting his hands in his pockets, and knowing full well like he always does, he never brought the ID card he was given long ago. "Well, I, uh, I know I have it on me somewhere…"

Samus NOW joined in, pushing Yuan Shao aside, and placing…20,000 gil on the booth. "Here. Luxury Ticket. Little furball. It's a humanoid transformed long ago. It's not an actual pet."

The woman quite happily accepted the money, and gave the ticket to Samus, who passed it to Daxter. "You owe me the money Daxter."

Daxter nodded eagerly. "Of course! Jak will pay ya off once we get home, right Jak?"

Samus looked at Jak, glaring almost, as he responded. "Y-yeah! Of course!" thinking 'goddamn Daxter. Of all people that I gotta give money back to for you, it's the bitch that gets pissed..'

And so, they all finally entered the metal dome…and it was a sight to behold.

Neon lights, ranging from all colours of the rainbow, were everywhere, a starry night fake sky above, several roller coasters could be seen, a medieval light castle in the distance, buildings with signs for food and drinks and arcades, hotels that looked like they were palaces built for emperors, water fountains, dyed with glow in the dark colours, mostly ranging in green and pink, a clean, marble like path leading in all kinds of directions, beautiful plantation on the sides of it, signs to show where to go and whats there to do. Small aerial crafts could be seen flying around with up to 4 people in each, little kids and even adults with hover boards going around, and rollerblades if they preferred to keep their feet on the floor. There was so much to take in…

Most of them were in awe. Shademan was even impressed by this. "Well I never…"

Zhang He pretty much summed up what they were all thinking, in his style of words. "What a glorious and wonderus sight to behold! Surely the 15 hours we'll have here will be ones we won't forget! All the sights! The laughter! The happiness!"

Pang Tong interrupted. "And the smell of burgers and hot dogs are calling to me. Now remember, at least in pairs of two or small groups. I'll just go and eat. See ya guys around. Remember. 15 hours. Docs rule." with that, he looked for the sign that led to one of the food areas, and departed, walking off with his staff.

There was a brief moment of silence before Yuan Shao declared "I, shall go with the lady that saved my pride when we attempted to help our little friend into this place!"

Samus looked baffled. "What?"

Xiahou Yuan nudged her. "Means you. We didn't get a chance to hear him admit he failed to have any ID."

Yuan Shao moved near her. "Samus! Let us go and enjoy yourselves! You'll have the opportunity to explore this place with me!"

Samus mentally bashed herself. "Oh fucking grand…"

She noticed Xiahou Yuan and Xiahou Dun already starting to walk off, and Xiahou Dun motioning her to follow. "Stick with us, we'll make him have a good time…heheh." Cao Cao once informed Xiahou Dun of Yuan Shao's inexperience with rides.

The armoured woman quickly followed the two, and Yuan followed her, unsure of what Dun meant with that little chuckle at the end.

Roll had taken the moment to grab Chad by his hand. "Hey come on! Lets go exploring together!" to her, she decided to just forget Anna was there for the moment, and just go and have fun while she could, and quickly begun tugging him away, trying to make him run…not like he was resisting that much.

"I can think for myself ya know! Don't have to tug!" Chad was quickly saying to Roll, before just accepting it and looking back towards Anna and the others, as Roll led him down one of the pathways, both running now. "I'll catch up with you lot later Anna!"

Shademan shook his head, before slowly walking after them. Lan and Darkmega had quickly ran past him though, going after Chad and Roll. "Chad! Ya can't leave us! We need you!" was their cry, as they gave chase.

Maylu was soon walking next to Shademan, giggling a little at Lan and Darkmega's panicked reaction to Chad seemingly deserting them. "I take it your in no rush either huh?"

"Of course. Leave them to go ahead and have fun. You?"

"Oh…I'll catch up with Lan eventually, he seems a little preoccupied right now, heh.."

Anna was fuming over what Roll just did, looking like she was about to explode. Zhang He saw this and was worried about even trying to speak to her. Medi on the other hand, was a lot more confident, and put her hand gently on Anna's shoulder. "Easy Anna. Let her have a little fun with him, she won't get far in what your thinking."

Anna looked at her in slight disbelief. "Medi! But his-"

Medi made a tutting sound. "You can't say his your boyfriend yet. But you shouldn't worry. Haven't you noticed with him? Rolls just a good friend. His interest is in you, not her. Let them have a little fun, and it'll dawn on her soon enough."

"…If you really think so…" Anna wasn't one to fold easily when it came to Chad, but knew Medi had a lot of experience with males…brief quick ones, but it all adds up.

"I do. Now, why don't you just go and have some tea before you catch up to them? That trip was rather long, and I'm sure Zhang He wouldn't mind a cup either. I'll go with Shademan and Maylu to keep an eye on Chad, if it makes you feel slightly better."

Anna thought about this for a moment, then nodded. "Alright. I do need something to make me relax I suppose…"

* * *

Roll had dragged Chad to one of areas which had a hologram arcade center. Unlike normal arcades, these were the sort where you actually partake fully. For example, you had the normal Time Crisis, where you hold a steel gun connected to a wire, pressing the trigger at the screen of the game where the enemies are, then you have the holographic edition…jumping around, looking for cover, and firing what felt like an actual gun. It was for the more active sort. Safety was always on in all hologram rooms of Twinkle Park, it meant that when you, again, the Time Crisis example, took a bullet to the brain, you wouldn't feel the impact as it'll just go through you, but the computer will inform you that you lost one life. Safety off…well, bullet to the brain? You're dead, and yes, in certain places, and in the Hero Base of Earth which had hologram rooms, this safety off mode was allowed…and people do risk it.

Inside the building, there was dozens of doors leading to hologram rooms, all with red or green lights above them. Red meaning occupied, green is free. Roll was leading the way, looking at each device next to the doors, which showed what game they played, how much it cost per go, and who many players allowed. She stopped outside one of the F-Zero Hologram rooms, with Chad next to her. "Hey! Let's have a go at this!"

Chad looked at the name of it, then thought for a moment. Racing, very fast racing. His never actually watched F-Zero properly, but he knows one thing…crashes are very often and by the look of the machines, they aren't easy to control. "I dunno…"

"Oh come on! Please?" Roll was smiling sweetly at him. Then, Lan and Darkmega arrived, along with, eventually, Shademan, Maylu and Medi.

"Hey. So what's up?" Shademan asked.

"Oh Roll wants me to ride around at suicide speeds with her." Chad replied. "I'm just not sure I'm alright with that."

"It's not that bad actually. I played it before. The controls are easy." Lan gave Chad a nod of approval. "the speed is hard to get used to, but it's easy beyond that."

Chad then looked at the data device next to the door. 30 players? Goddamn… 300 gil a go? Ah…Chad looked at Roll. "Well I can't play anyway. Lack of funds."

Roll was surprised. "…You didn't ask the docs for a little spending cash?"

"…I didn't know we could?"

"Chad. They gave most people here a good 4000 each to spend here. They know this stuff costs."

Chad was now annoyed. Of all the bloody things… he looked at Darkmega, and even Darkmega knew, as he showed some of the gil he was carrying. "Aright, so I'm not the sort to ask about these things Roll, it still means I can't play."

Roll smirked. "Oh, don't worry, I'll just do…plan b…hey, uh Maylu? Are there any cameras around? Or anyone else?"

Maylu knew where Roll was going with this, and sighed in annoyance. "Oh no Roll. Don't start cheating again. It's only 300 gil each…"

Roll had already moved over towards the data device near the door, looking left and right to check, Chad was watching, interested. "…All clear?"

Maylu looked around carefully on the walls and ceiling, and noticed they were the only people in the corridor right now. "sigh, All clear."

Then, on her helmet, Rolls yellow, slightly see through antennas moved forward, the ends of them embedded themselves into the data device, phasing into it. The small screen on it said 'Accessing…'

"So? How many of us want to actually play besides me and Chad?" Roll asked, busy focusing on the device before her. Lan and Maylu wanted in on it, and so did Shademan, Darkmega was unsure, but felt he needed to try. Medi decided not to, saying she'll just watch.

Soon enough, the device's little screen changed from 'Accessing…' to 'Admin approved, please input amount.' Chad smiled. This was something he approved of. Free fun, sod the money makers. Soon enough, after bypassing a few simple passwords, the small screen showed the game name again, and showed that 7 games, more precise 6 for 1 person, or 1 game for 6 people, were allowed, all 'paid' for, as Roll removed her antennas.

"Well then, lets head on in."

…

Chad was in a panic.

He had ran pretty fast before, he was used to things zooming by, but THIS… this was batshit insanity. Once they had got inside, the hologram room computer asked them first if they wanted AI racers in, which Roll said no to, then it asked if they wanted realistic F-Zero proper speed or difficulty set speeds. Roll chose the former.

They were hitting speeds of 2000 KM/H, or round about 1200 miles per hour. Chad didn't like that, especially with the twists in the goddamn race track. Thankfully this is safety on, so once you crash, you don't feel it, and your even teleported from the crash point to the middle of the track nearest to it, to continue on. The machines also had boosters, which just made it worse.

They were all driving the same kind of F-Zero machine, to make it fair, Roll said. Called meteors, they were red coloured, long and thin, designed for speed, not for hitting other machines or barriers.

The track was called Aeropolis, the name gives a damn hint to what it has. Jumps, a lot of them. It was all a light blue track, barriers on the edges, U turns, turns that made you drive upside down for a time before going back to normal, and even loops…Roll picked this at random, and with the way she was going, shes played this a few times before.

She was out in front, as Chad got into the 3rd and final lap, the one following in second was Darkmega, who seemed to have adapted quicker then Chad and Shademan, both were pretty much stuck in 5th and 6th, respectively. Chad blamed it on the fact that they were Net Navis, and this was easier for them…Shademan, he couldn't explain for, it could be the guy doesn't wanna really play or something.

Medi was seen…only for a mere second each time before Chad flew by, sitting at the crowd seats near the finish line, watching them on a huge television screen above, showing where everyone was in the race, what position at their timing on each lap.

Each lap took 3 minutes to complete, and soon enough, Roll came flying by, shooting over the finish line. Shortly after, Darkmega shot by, then Lan, Maylu, Chad and finally Shademan. The six soon found themselves being teleported out of their machines, and the computer declared the game was over, and player 1, Roll, was the winner. The hologram ended, leaving all seven in a simple square room, black, with yellow stripes all around it.

Roll was happy beyond anything. "Oh yeah! I won! I'm just awesome! Did you see it? I beat all of you!"

Shademan shrugged. "It wasn't like I was even trying Roll, and by the looks of it, Chad wasn't either."

Chad shook his head. "No, I was trying, it was just…how many times have you played this thing before Roll? It's just insane. Even by Mobian standards that's goddamn way too fast."

"Oh….I've watched F-Zero a lot, played the hologram game, a, few, times back in the base."

"How many times?"

"…at least 40 times?"

Chad gathered it together. "So I take it you're a fan of F-Zero then? Don't you think it was a little unfair to pick something you knew a lot of?"

"Oh it was only a game. Hey, at least you had a go and crashed, oh, only 16 times?"

Chad mumbled. "16 times too many if ya ask me…"

Lan then spoke up. "Well I only crashed three times. It isn't hard once you just watch the track."

Medi soon walked over to Darkmega, smiling. "Second place…not bad. Certainly impressed me sweetie. With the way you drove that machine, you know how to handle things, don't you? I wonder what else you'll be able to easily handle." she chuckled sweetly after that, before she left the hologram room.

Darkmega watched her go, before looking at Chad. "Does she mean she wants to play a different game?"

"You….could, say that Darkmega."

They all soon left the hologram room, and with Roll being careful with hacking, they begun to have free goes on quite a few of the games.

It was while Chad, Lan, Darkmega and Shademan were playing in a hologram room called "Lylat Wars", a space shooter made for up to 4 players, Maylu, Medi and Roll decided to sit on one of the metal benches outside the building, leaving the boys to it.

Maylu was busy looking at the rides in the distance, when Medi decide to talk with Roll a little. "Roll, do you think Chad likes you?"

"Huh?"

"Do you think he likes you? You and him seem to get along pretty well."

Roll went a little red. "I, well, I don't know if he does…I kinda don't think he does."

Medi nodded a little. "Same here."

That caught Roll off guard. "hm?"

"I don't think he does. His into Anna. You know that. His got this thing for her, you know, since they were young his always had an attraction thing. They were childhood friends. I guess it's starting to mature a little bit more."

Roll thought about this for a moment. "…Medi, I, I like Chad though…"

Medi smiled at her reassuringly. "I know that Roll, but I think sometimes your just not thinking the big picture. You and Anna are good friends. When Chad wasn't around for 2 years, you both got along fine. Do you really want to risk losing it? Surely you thought about this before haven't you?"

"Yeah, I have…I even had a chance to admit to Chad how I felt but, I didn't because of Anna…"

"Then that's good, you always like keeping friends. Chad, and Anna are friends…leave it as that, for your own sake, and theirs. You know you sorta jumped on Anna's toes with dragging Chad away, don't you?"

Roll nodded. "I guess I just, wanted to be close to him."

"You can be, silly. Just, not, the way you want. Just be his best friend Roll, be there for him and Anna. It'll work out better that way."

Roll looked at Medi, and knew she was right. She had to let go and just accept it. It was going to be painful to do so for her, but if makes them happy… "Alright Medi. Alright…heh, It would be nice to have Anna smile at me for once instead of frowning whenever I enter a room with her in it."

"It'll take time, but I'm sure she will again. We'll get you kept in her good books."

Roll gave her a smile, and they soon just waited for the lads to finish playing.

* * *

Zhuge Liang had gone with Dr Regal, Dr Yuichiro and his wife Hakura, around the Park, looking at the small fun games you could play, to win little toys and all that, they eventually stopped together outside one of the more normal, old fashioned arcades.

Zhuge Liang heard them natter between themselves, and they looked at him, expecting him to go in with them, but he shook his head, telling them he'll stay out here. All three soon went in, and Zhuge Liang, with his fan, waved it gently, as he begun walking off a little to the side of the path, looking at the plantation…

Then, he heard a voice. Behind him. A womans voice, calm, deep and delicate, speaking directly to him. She had her arms to her sides, watching him. Wearing white long sleeve gloves and dark blue high heels, a short, black dress, her skin a fair blue, her hair, neon blue, her pupils black, her lips purple. "So, this is the group you went with from Earth V…"

Zhuge Liang knew the voice, chuckling a little, still waving his fan. "I haven't asked you to come and see me. What are you doing here?"

"To see you. It is a place for couples after all."

Zhuge bent down towards one of the plants, feeling the leaves a little. "…We are no longer such a couple."

"I know that in your heart, We always will be."

He sighed. "Perhaps so. But right now, I do not wish to see you."

"You never do anymore…so, why these people? Is it because of the Malyan boy?"

"Of course, like every cycle, I watch over one."

The woman went quiet for a moment, then, she crossed her arms. "Universe 8 hasn't had him. Did you even notice? The Negative Multi has had them, but one of the ones here have not."

"It does not matter. A Chad will come in time."

"…Nor has a Richard arrived, or a Blue. It is most unusual. Even Q has looked around and found nothing of their existence."

"In time, in time. This is why I have not asked any of them to look, unlike Q, who as expected, would do as he pleases when something seems amiss. The Malyan and those of the destiny of that universe will come in time. Everything, will go to plan."

"…I'm worried about you."

The man of Shu stood up, and looked upwards to the fake stars, smirking a little. "About me? I am fine. Since I have left Earth V, I have felt more relaxed."

There was silence between them once more, before the woman walked up to him, standing next to him. "…Those stars. Some of them are huddled together. Like a family…a family that loves each other and does whats best for eachother."

Zhuge turned away from her. He knew where she was going with this. "They are coming back out now. I want you to depart from here…please."

It was the woman's turn to chuckle. "I haven't heard you say that word to me…in a very, very long time…" with that, in a blink of an eye. She was gone.

Yuichiro was fuming at Regal, for simply being able to win Hakura a teddy, a small simple one, holding a red fluffy heart, but it was much better then nothing. She was rather pleased with it, and even thanked him. Regal was smirking at Yuichiro. "Problem?"

Yuichiro was muttering under his breath in response, and soon enough, they rejoined Zhuge, as another group arrived. It was Sun Jian, with his daughter Sun Shang Xiang, Liu Bei and Cao Cao, who was seen with a bright neon pink rocket shaped ice lolly in his mouth, sharp berry flavour. Sun Shang saw the bear. "Oh wow. Did you win that thing in the arcades there?"

Hakura nodded. "Regal won it for me."

Sun Shang Xiang quickly turned towards Liu Bei, smiling at him sweetly, in a slight pleading way. He knew what she wanted. "My love, could you-"

Liu Bei nodded. "I shall win you a bear if that is what you wish."

Sun Jian glared at him slightly. "Humph, you do not need to do such a thing, I shall present the bear as a gift to my wonderful daughter! You don't need him!"

With that, Sun Jian walked off into the arcades. Liu Bei sighed at this, knowing it was coming. "Your father still isn't ready to accept me as a member of the family Shang? Even after these years?" Shang Xiang shook her head in slight annoyance, knowing her father still saw Liu Bei as less then what she deserves.

Cao Cao smirked a little, taking the ice lolly out for a moment. "So, your just going to stand there and let Sun Jian claim the bear before you eh? Not very competitive are you, for the affection of such a lovely woman."

Liu Bei quickly responded to that by heading off to the arcades, determined to win. Dr Regal smiled a little at Cao Cao. "You know they'll fight over the thing the moment one of them wins right?"

"That's the plan. It's always fun to see them try to kill each other over such trivial matters." Cao responded, before putting the lolly back in his mouth.

* * *

Elsewhere, in one of the queues to one of the roller coasters, one that had 8 huge loops on, there was Mario, Luigi, Charlie, Jak and Daxter, Xiahou Dun, Samus, Xiahou Yuan…and a very worried and concerned Yuan Shao. "A-are you sure that I NEED to try this?"

Daxter was seen sitting on Jak's shoulder, and turning himself around to look at Yuan Shao. "Sure. Pirate man here said ya need to grow a pair when it comes to this stuff, and this one is perfect. No simple slow steps, just dive in the deep end baby."

Xiahou Dun frowned a little, not a fan of being called 'pirate man', he barely puts up with that crap off Xiahou Yuan when his talking to others about him. "My lord claimed that Yuan Shao is simply a coward of the highest calibur, and I know Yuan would like to prove us all wrong, wouldn't you?"

The High Minister nodded quickly. "O-of course! Just…just…" looks at the track of the ride. "I-I'm not sure it requires such, risky and mad measures to prove it, that's all…can we not just pick a different, more relaxed ride? I saw one of those things with the fake horses go round and round nearby, perhaps that'll be a much better option to prove things?"

Charlie looked at him, eyebrow raised. "A Merry-Go-Round? That's not very exciting Yuan Shao. Plus, I doubt a nobleman such as you would be seen very highly riding a fake plastic horse around and around on a device that's mainly aimed at adults with children."

Daxter snickered. "Who says anyone views him highly now anyways?"

Yuan Shao gave Daxter a dark glare for a moment, before he heard Samus. "Just suck it up and enjoy it. It's not like it'll matter if you piss your pants or not. You're wearing mostly yellow anyways, no one would notice."

Slowly, they got closer and closer to the ride, Yuan Shao tried to think of a way out of this. "O-oh! Oh my! It appears it is time for me to find a restroom and put on my face lotion! If I don't, my skin will dry out!"

Xiahou Yuan looked at him for a moment. "…You carry it around with you…"

"Yes of course! In my pocket!"

"…why can't you just put some on quickly here and now?"

Yuan looked at him disgusted. "What!? And let others see such a man as myself put on such pale stuff? Certainly not!"

Samus shook her helmet, and looked at him from the corner of her eyes. "It can wait."

"But if I don't my poor skin will-"

Samus showed her arm cannon, the opening of it aka the firing end, to his head. "It can wait."

"Y-yes ma'am.."

Finally, they reached the end of the queue, and the next ride vehicle arrived, designed to carry 10 people, the safety bars were on the front of the seating, designed to be lowered at the right angle for each customer. The mobian, a brown bunny like one, begun showing them to the seats, with Xiahou Yuan taking off his helmet and putting it neatly between his legs, showing his slightly frizzy brown medium hair, Mario and Luigi removing their hats, doing the same, Charlie taking off his glasses and putting them in his jacket, and finally Samus simply deactivating and making her Chozo armor disappear, leaving her in her blue zero suit, her blonde hair in a neat pony tail, as she sat next to Xiahou Dun.

The Mobian saw Daxter stay on Jaks shoulder, as he sat down. "Uhh…are you sure you'll be safe like that sir?"

Daxter waved at him dismissively. "Eh relax, I got Jaks hair here to grab onto. It's all cool guy. Chill out." Jak was eyeing him as he said that. It didn't hurt so much as it first did when Daxter used to grab his hair, but still…

Yuan Shao sat next to Xiahou Yuan, still quite tense. The mobian noticed that Yuan Shao still had his hat on, as the last two seats were filled. "Sir? I'm going to have to ask you to remove that hat for the duration of this ride."

Yuan Shao quickly looked at him, as if he just snapped out of his train of thoughts…of flying through the air, catapulted off by this godforsaken machine. "Huh? What?"

"Your hat sir. You need to remove it before the ride can begin. It's part of the safety rules. It's at risk of falling off during the ride, and may injure someone."

Yuan took a moment to ingest this fully, before an idea came into his mind. "Oh…OH! Well, that is a shame then!" he looked to the others. "I'm so sorry, but it appears I MUST get off."

Xiahou Yuan looked at him suspiciously. "And whys that?"

"Oh well…I uhh…I have an illness, on my head, a disease I mean! severe hair, uh, infection! It's calmed easily by the lotion I have to rub on…the inside of my hat! If it comes off too soon, then the lotion applied will have been all for nothing, and yes, it's in a very precise spot. So if you all excuse me…"

Samus grumbled angrily, and quickly got out of her seat. She and Dun were ahead of Yuan Shao and Xiahou Yuan. She walked up next to Yuan Shao, pulled off his hat, making him jump in panic slightly, before she roughly slammed it right in the middle of his legs, pretty much punching him right in the crotch, making him yelp in pain and quickly grab it, whimpering a little, before she headed back to her seat and sat down, pulling the safety bar down for herself.

Xiahou Dun smirked, as he pulled down his safety bar. "Nice one."

"Just making the pussy little bitch shut the hell up."

* * *

The screams of Yuan Shao were heard clearly in most of Twinkle Park during those three minutes of the ride. Medi, Chad, Roll and the others of their little group had met up with Anna, Da Qiao, who was holding a plastic stick with candy floss on, Sun Ce and Zhang He just nearby a small café part of the place, when they heard the screams.

Sun Ce had a good guess on what had happened. "Huh, sounds like good old Yuan Shao either just got pranked, or his on a ride he didn't like the look of."

Chad thought about it, and his mind decided on the latter. "Yeah, knowing Yuan Shao, it's a ride…so, what should we do now anyway people?"

Anna smiled at him and others, having a plan in her head. "Oh well, I was thinking perhaps we could just go on a few rides, maybe afterwards, go and have a meal together before making a stop at the big ferries wheel."

Da Qiao nodded. "Sounds good to me. We still got a good while left."

As the others were chatting about what rides to go to first, Medi walked over to Anna and spoke quietly to her. "Ferris wheel huh? Gives you and a certain someone a little time together, doesn't it? Rather close seating too, and each one is made for just two."

"Hey! Not just me! Gives you and someone else time too!"

"Oh sweetheart, I don't need that ride to get time with him…I have my ways."

"Yeah well…" Anna looked at Roll, as she was talking to Chad and Shademan. "That's as long as someone else doesn't try to take my seat on the wheel…"

"Oh, she won't, trust me."

It was as the group were about to move, they saw a pair walking past, making them stop, well, Chad, Anna mostly.

They were heading to get some snacks together, and it was only as the male of the pair glanced towards them, that they too, stopped. It was Rufus and the Mobian Amy Rose, looking rather cheerful.

Amy recognised both Anna and Chad. "Oh hey guys! Haven't seen you both in years! How's it going?"

Chad, wasn't sure if this was an ok sight before him. A Human and a Mobian that's still…Mobian, holding hands. He was fine with himself and Anna, because he mostly preferred to be in his Human form. This…This made his spine chill. "Oh, I'm, I'm good…so, you decided to accept Rufus's offer huh?"

Amy Rose was slightly surprised untill Rufus spoke up. "Remember I said I asked your friend Anna for your number. These two were both in Junon."

"Oh, that explains it. Yep, I have. I didn't see why not, his a young man and seems quite happy with hanging around me, so I thought what the hey!"

Anna nodded in…approval, in the way that it's okay as long as you ignore the blaring issues. "Well why not. As long as your both happy."

Rufus nodded. "That's right. So, enjoying the park?"

"Just about to try and get on a decent amount of the rides, grab a bite to eat then relax mostly." Anna answered. She noticed Chad was focusing on Rufus now, and nudged him a little, as she was sure he was giving him a dirty look.

"Good idea. Amy and I are going to explore the pleasure castle together after I treat her to a few minor bits and bobs. "

"Oh she LOVES being treated Rufus."

Rufus smiled at Amy after Anna said that. "Then she'll love when I say what job I'm in now that can guarantee her plenty of treats. According to her she hasn't seen my first announcement of my new position…so it'll be a pleasant surprise."

With that, Rufus gave them a farewell and departed, with Amy beside him. Chad was watching them go. "….Still don't like him."

* * *

For Anna, once they got on the first ride, it was a turning point. Roll suddenly was making sure Anna sat with Chad, and gladly sat with Shademan, the first time this occurred got Anna a little confused, but after the sixth ride, a water log ride, she begun to feel actually worried over Roll. Oh she was more then happy to take up the seat next to her charming man, but seeing Roll change got her notice.

After that ride, once they left it and begun to walk over to what Chad was dreading right away for how sickly sweet it'll be, a love tunnel, Anna nudged Roll a little and motioned her to come to the back of the group with her.

Once Roll did, it was while they were walking, Anna had to ask. "Roll…are you okay?"

"Anna?"

"Look, I don't mean to sound out of order, but, I knew you liked the guy I like. But suddenly you've changed your moves. You're not aiming for him anymore…did something happen?"

Roll stopped, as did Anna. The pink Navi thought about this for a moment, before replying. "Anna, I realized that, I was going to lose out on you. You're one of my friends. I don't want to fight you over Chad. Your both good friends, and I know that's the better way then losing you and having Chad as my boyfriend."

Anna was actually touched by Rolls words. "Aw, Roll.." she opened her arms, and her and Roll had a little hug. "I don't want to lose you either. We were a team back before Chad returned, and I don't want to damage that friendship either. I know I've been…a little hard, but I'll gladly put that behind me."

Roll was thankful for that, and her and Anna stopped hugging. "Thanks Anna, and I'll put my grudge with you behind me too."

"Good, now-"

Zhang He spoke up. "-Ladies, I know this a moment between you two, but if this is over Chad and the Love Tunnel? It appears Chad won't be joining us."

Anna quickly looked around, noticing Darkmega, Lan, Shademan and Chad had fled. Chad had informed them of what the hell it was going to be like, just, all lovey dovey and sweet music and images of furry animals and aliens kissing and hugging…all three decided to flee when the others noticed Roll and Anna halting. Sun Ce was the only one besides Zhang He to stay put. "What the…" she cursed. "Goddamn boys."

In hot pursuit, eventually they caught up to the lads, and decided to give the Love Tunnel a miss, lest they wanted to boys to complain and whine the whole way through. Sun Ce and Da Qiao were the only ones to go for it.

Soon they continued they're exploration of the place, and stopped for a quick bite to eat when Ce and his wife rejoined them, Ce having several lipstick kiss marks over his cheeks and neck, and Da Qiao blushing when Medi pointed this out. At the café, Chad has his food being paid for by Anna, for which she said he can pay him back later…somewhere else.

Chad, not one to avoid kinky thoughts, liked where this was going. He tried to leave the real sexy ones alone, but they soon came into his mind when he started to check out Anna. He had to go and hide for a little while to let a certain part of him lower itself.

Soon, after three more fun rides, and few arcades as Sun Ce demanded, they all arrived at the Ferris Wheel. It was all lit up with pink, blue and green lights, shining brightly across Twinkle Park. Chad and Anna were the first ones on, getting into the seats of the one of machines, then it moved around a little, to let the next two on, Roll and Shademan.

Roll looked at Chad and Anna, then at the seats, and eventually, shook her head. "…No, it's fine. I'll just stay down, maybe grab an ice cream."

Shademan was surprised by this, as was Chad. The vampire Navi soon agreed he would stay with Roll and watch the rest, leaving the seating to Medi and Darkmega, who was pretty much tugged onto it by Medi.

Again the machine moved, and Lan and Maylu got on, finally, it was Sun Ce and Da Qiao. Chad looked down at where Roll was and gave her a smile, as the ride moved once more. Zhang He wanted to follow Anna, but noticing she was busy with Chad, he joined Shademan and Roll on the sidelines.

Shademan folded his arms, as they both watched Chad and Anna go up, before asking. "Why did you refuse?"

Roll looked at him, then, down to the floor. "I, just didn't want to watch them, that's all…"

Eventually, the part of the ride that held Chad and Anna reached the top, letting them see across the whole of Twinkle Park…it was a far, far better view then what they got when they first entered. Anna had to say something about it. "It's…just…beautiful.."

Chad nodded, then decided to look behind him, at where Medi and Darkmega would be.

Darkmega was looking worried, and Medi seemed ready to make her move. "Darkmega?"

He jumped at her speaking his name, looking at her quickly. "Y-y-yes?"

She slightly leaned towards him, and his response was to lean back slightly. "You know, ever since our little adventure in Brinstar, back on Zebes, I find you, rather…cute, and handsome.."

"O-oh? Well, well that's nice. Umm, your, rather cute too? And, well…S-Sexy." Darkmega was fumbling with his words. His heart, as he looked into Medi's eyes, was beating at a worrying pace, his chest felt tight. He couldn't place his finger on what was causing it. Then again, he was created BEFORE Megaman scored with Roll, so this is to be expected.

Medi moved herself a little closer, and Darkmega quickly moved himself further away…as far as possible, as he quickly found out he was at the side already. "Heh, I'm glad you like what you see…I like you. A lot…and I want to do something to you to prove it."

All Darkmega could think was 'Do something? Like what? Cross Fusion or Soul Unison?' before Medi moved closer, putting one of her hands on his leg, gently rubbing it. "Hey hey! What's going-" she moved in for the kill, her lips quickly planting on his, making him feel a shock in his system…before a feeling of relief and calm, with hints of pleasure, swept over him, as Medi kept their lips connected.

She soon moved back, and he just, woke up almost, like as if his body had been asleep all this time to a certain part of itself. "…Whoa…" was all he could muster.

"Did you like it?"

"Yeah…that was…I loved it."

Medi smiled at him sexily. "Wanna do it again?" there was no space for an answer, as she moved in once more, and this time, Darkmega was a more then happy receiver, kissing her back a little, and even putting his arms around her, as she did with him, as they embraced.

Chad chuckled a little, knowing this is a good step forward for Darkmega, before turning back and looking at Anna, as she was still looking at the view. "Well, Darkmega is learning new things and seems to be doing okay. Means I can focus now on whats important."

Anna turned her head towards him, smiling sweetly. "Oh? And what are you going to focus on now then?"

Chad was looking at her, and was prepared to say something…but his mind went mush a little, just by looking at her. His begun to think to himself. 'All right Chad...don't panic...you and Anna have kissed before...nothing to worry about…'

Then he heard, well, himself in his mind. Chad had spoken, in a mind sense, to himself before. This was Chad's conscious, as he classed it. That 'other' voice you sometime get when you just can't seem to think if something is a good idea, or a very, very alarmly bad idea. 'But this time you're up here for awhile.'

'Goddamnit! Not you now! Go away!' Chad soon tried talking to Anna, but he still couldn't say the words. "I….uh, I um, um…uuh.."

'Smooth Chad, real smooth.' his conscious gave with sarcasm.

Anna was a little surprised by his sudden inability to speak whatever was on his mind. "Is something wrong?"

"Hey! I can see Yuan Shao from here!" They suddenly heard from Sun Ce, with him pointing out where the Minister was.

Chad, Anna and the others looked, spotting Yuan Shao in line for a ride called 'The Depth Charge'….simple design, it sends you up, then flying back down, as if falling, before slowing on the last second.

Yuan Shao was obviously trying to get away, but Samus had grabbed the back of his cape, dragging him on as the line slowly decreased, with Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan watching. Anna and the others on the wheel were sure they could hear him cussing from the ride they were on, the shocked look of the other customers lining up for the Depth Charge proved he was.

"Huh, poor guy…" Anna sat back after watching a little while, then focused on Chad again. "So Chad, is something wrong?"

Chad quickly focused back on the now, looking over at Anna, and scratching the back of his head, smiling sheepishly a little. "Noooo…" in his mind. 'Alright Chad. This is Mobius. Maybe Chaos can save your bacon here by attacking or something."

His Conscious gave a laugh. 'Ha! Dream on!'

Then, as per normal to Twinkle Park, they created an odd little shooting star in their digital realm, one that Anna saw. "Oh hey! Look at that! Come on Chad, make a wish!"

Chad saw it too, and for a moment, his worry subsided. "Anna, it's fake."

"So? Come on! Make a wish!"

Chad sighed, and sat back for a moment, before closing his eyes. "Fine, I wish I wouldn't stutter like an idiot at times, when I'm thinking and sitting with the one I love."

Anna felt her cheeks go red a little, and Chad soon realized what he said, opening his eyes. "Wait what did I just say?" and his automatic answer to this sudden outburst was 'CONSCIOUS!'

It wasn't happy being given the blame. 'Hey hey whoa there Malyan! I didn't do that! That was ALL you!'

Chad hated it now, still blaming it for the words he said, when Anna spoke up. "Well, I, wished, that you and I, well, we'll be together. To care for one another, to hold onto one another, and to…love, each other….Chad…do, you want to go, go out with me?" She slowly begun to move in.

'OH this is getting good! And this time I didn't have to do anything! I wish I could have some popcorn and enjoy this!'

'Oh shut up and let me do this with her in peace' Chad replied in his mind, before he spoke. "…Yes Anna. I do, I really do…" and then, he and Anna kissed, with a passion unlike before. This was a start of a new adventure for them, in their personal lives. Soon, they were holding each other close, as the ride slowly moved once more, the false stars above, gleaming down on them…

Twinkle Park was a place they wouldn't forget.

* * *

The words of Rufus's speech echoed…

"But, now we're beyond Unicron, we must think of what will be next, for this once, rotten, dying empire, choked of its resources and dreams…"

We now saw a muddy wasteland, rain flushing down upon it, dark clouds filled with thunder and lightning filled the sky above…

"First, I have offered out the hand of peace, and friendship, to the United Federation of Planets and the Galactic Empire-Rebel Alliance Unity, to end our wars with them…"

There was the faint sounds of gunfire, energy weapons being unleashed, and even artillery cannons being triggered, there massive shell roaring across the sky before smashing into the ground.

"Second, we will restore order and fully claim what is rightfully ours before this chaos Keaton created for us. There are several worlds that belong to us, which are under the control of other forces, once High Ministers…."

Then, we see a flag, a flag on a steel pole, damaged, the rain washing around it, as the pole was embedded into the ground, the flag slightly blowing in the breeze…it was the flag of the Shinra Federation, now and then, the light of the district explosions and weapons fire glowing on the woven cloth…

"Third, is about those High Ministers. Those who controlled our distance worlds. I want them to come and see me, and speak about what must happen now, that Al'Keriff and Armstrong so painfully put off with our money and our resources, taken from the people we're suppose to watch for…."

Then, figures were soon quickly passing the flag, backing away from something, alien figures, with energy blades connected to their wrists, just above their hands, their armor and bodies, damaged slightly, gunshot wounds and energy burn marks, speaking in Galactic, quickly ordering their 'brethern' to fall back and regroup.

"It is time for those outsiders to hand over their independence…"

Then, a hail of yellow and orange energy bullets flew past the flag, aiming at those aliens that past it. With the shouts of another group telling their forces to open fire and take down as many of the enemy as possible.

"They may keep their titles and names, but they must confirm that they are a part of this Federation completely, from trade, to military…"

Then, one alien fell near the flag, alone with several others nearby, his armor broken, his body giving up from the sheer wounds he received.

It, was a Protoss. It's pale skin, blue blood oozing from it's wounds, it's glowing teal eyes, faded into a dark green. It's proud golden armor, in tatters. It held the rank of Zealot, a group of the Protoss that were solely for melee and close range combat, having those energy blades, which could cut through a lot of different types of steel rather well.

"I'm going to bring us back to glory. I'm going to restore us. I'm going to free us, and expand us to new places, new worlds, but not by harming our true, valued neighbours…"

Then, a steel plated foot stomped on the back of the body of the Protoss, belong to a Federation trooper, his armor, carrying the mark of the Shinra Federation on the shoulders. His bright green visor glowing in the darkened world, the rain coming down all over his energy rifle and his suit. He looked back, and motioned with his hand, a sign meaning it was okay to move.

Then, walking up to him from behind, as he held his rifle ready, looking ahead, were over three dozen troopers, all looking around carefully, kicking the Protoss bodies and making sure they weren't still alive. One groaned in pain weakly, before it met it's demise by several energy shots in the head, it's skull shattering and it's green organs, mixed with the blue blood, oozing into the mud.

Then, further back, it was seen that, not only was the ground littered with Protoss bodies, but several transporter ships of the Federation were coming down to land, and in the sky, one of the warships were seen. Two mech suits were seen coming to the troops to back them up.

They were of a simple design, made in a humanoid stance, huge and bulky, they were four times the size of a man, and carried a rocket launcher on the left shoulder, an energy cannon on the right, instead of a left hand it had a energy minigun, or gatling laser as it's official name was, and it's right hand was just a hand, for grabbing and crushing if need be. It had jetpacks on the back, it's cockpit in the torso, no head segment, the view screen was created by several small cameras attached to the front of the torso, on it's back, the proud emblem of the Shinra federation.

The front of the torso would open to allow a single person to enter and control the machine. These machines had been less used in the time of Keaton, but were now back on the production line by Rufus.

All this was occurring, two months after Twinkle Park…

One of the troopers slowly looked to the flag, flickering in the wind, before a flash of lightning was seen above.

"This is the start of a new era, my era. The Shinra, Federation, era…"


	19. GF, the empire still lives

It was one day prior to Twinkle Park…

Richard was in combat with an old ally. His dark wolf blade swung wildly, trying it's best to hit it's target, the figure in question, easily dodged every move Richard tried, even when he used his new claws to form twelve weapons of the same battlechip, say the Hi-cannons, it amounted to nothing, as the figure rapidly, at inhuman speeds, moved out of the shots paths.

It was upon Earth X. Richard had returned to the Hero Base there, along with his Zerg forces, to try and take over the place for his own benefit, to make a stand…instead, on his arrival, the old ally who was pretty much dominating, was waiting for him, and demanded he quietly, 'hand himself over for the next plan he has. Or at least surrender a decent sample of his blood'. as if he knew full well Richard had now Zerg DNA in him.

The Zerg-Human responded with combat. His Zerg stayed back. The sense they got from this figure intimidated them, even made them move well away from the main room, as Richard decided to go for the person in there.

Richard was smashed right across the face by a powerful blow from the figures left, leather covered fist, knocking him back, making him stumble on his feet, trying to stay upright, before he notice the figure was before him again, and simply used the palm of his hand to smack Richard right in the middle of the face, sending him backwards, hitting the floor and sliding slightly.

"I would suggest you reconsider the situation you've brought yourself into, Mr Richard Wily, but in actual fact, you've come to the right place, for me anyway, and for someone else."

Richard shook his head, dazed by the attack, and jumped back on his feet, only to find the figure was already on him, smashing him several times in the stomach with his fists. These, with Zerg DNA implanted into Richard, shouldn't be effecting him badly, but this enemy, this foe, had more strength then he ever let on, each blow pushing harder into the guts, before he finally uppercutted Richard right on the chin, making Richard backflip in the air from the sheer force, and slam face first into the metal floor with a sickening thud.

Who was this enemy that made Richard seem like child's play? He stood there, smirking, calm and collected, readjusting his sunglasses…Chaos. The enemy to Chad, after the time of Darkmega, had finally showed himself once more, to Richard's displeasure.

The Overmind hybrid felt his Zerg blood get to work, numbing the pain, and trying to fix whatever the hell he just broke with that impact…he felt his jaw click and crack a little, as if being forced and repaired back in place. Zerg DNA, especially that of an Overmind, was complete with a decent self-regeneration ability.

Richard got on his hands and knees to stand up, his nose, oozing out dark, dark red blood, and he was looking ahead…only to see Chaos already crouching near him, looking right into his eyes, those sunglasses refusing Richard to see into the eyes of his opponent. "Don't bother. You can't win." with that, he head butted Richard square on the forehead, with such a force, it knocked the Human Overmind right out, with him laid out on the floor, not moving anymore.

Chaos stood up afterwards, looking down at Richard. He heard the Zerg fleeing in sheer panic, but ignored them. They weren't what he wanted. "Zerg. Some go berserk with no control, others go and cower in fear…seems Richard had the latter. Now, let's get you delivered to someone who can eventually begin grabbing the attention of the new 'emperor.'"

With that, he picked up the Dark Wolf, putting it back into it's casing on it's masters body, before picking up the said body, and began to leave the Hero Base…

* * *

Returning to present times, Two Months after Twinkle Park…

'Was this the right thing to do?'

'Was attacking those close to the once GF the correct action to push the empire forward?'

'To turn your weapon against those that stood by you…'

'Was it right to expand in such a brutal and harsh manner?'

The one that was thinking these questions in his mind, was Master Chief.

He was on one of the, once, Protoss worlds, and was within a landing bay area, roughly made in a quick way, for the Transport ships and such to land and deploy the troops and supplies as needed. It had lighting to signal to the ships where to go, and a few small energy turrets set up to fire on any nearby Protoss. He was standing there, watching a Mech come out of a transport vessel, it's driver being informed of where to go by some nearby troopers, before he marched off.

The rain was still continuing, blurring his vision ever so slightly. It had been going on since the first blood was spilled, Protoss blood at that, as the warships bombarded most of the unshielded areas of the planet prior to the invasion.

He was told to keep an eye on this area for the time being, untill the Protoss were driven back to a distance that would guarantee the safety of this location. The request was by Rufus himself. He knew Master Chief would question this action against a race that had been long accepted to the empire prior.

Casualties on their side were small. Rufus called it right when he said the Protoss wouldn't know what hit them. The aliens had suffered major losses, to the point, Chief guessed it would hit in the billions with the initial bombardments, and not just of this world.

Several of the Protoss worlds were hit simultaneously. The warships had moved in organized assaults, and blasted many of the cities controlled by this race into nothing more then rubble, taking out their radar stations, communication arrays, even their spaceship docks, denying them a chance of escape.

Soon, he heard the voice of Cortana. She was stationed on one of the Warships above, monitoring the entire situation. "Chief. Their being pushed back to one of their last few escape ships and city, it's shielded are severely damaged. I suggest you begin getting on a transport and move in for the final assault. There are minimal forces left in the area you're in now, the remaining mechs and troopers should be able to commence the clean up without difficulty."

"…With no prisoners." he responded, slightly bitter.

"It's the only way Rufus wants it to be…I'm sorry."

The last defensive city on this planet was nothing more then a senseless massacre. Their escape ships were mostly gunned down before they could escape. When Master Chief arrived, he found himself just going with the flow, finding himself at every turn, as Zealots of the Protoss army came at him, to choose between sparing those simply trying to protect what's theirs and losing his life, or killing them, and every time, he chose self preservation.

He heard the sickening cheers of victory, as eventually, the last of the Protoss were driven off the world, unable to make any more defensive moves, losing every single location they could hold out. Victory…is this how it should be? A deadly surprise attack with no mercy?

Around them were the bodies of the enemy, and the troops gladly stepping on them while celebrating in what was seen as success. Master Chief called Cortana, and informed her of the news, before he got back on a transport ship, and returned to the warship she was on.

When he returned, he walked to the bridge, and saw Cortana, now as tall as a human, but still a hologram, standing near the windows, as he walked up to her. "Cortana."

She turned towards him, saddened a little. "…The other worlds are beginning a retreat to other locations outside the new border. They know they can't win for now. The battles shouldn't take no more then a few days to be declared over, according to my calculations…"

"I want to talk to the Emperor."

Cortana nodded, and a hologram screen appeared near her and Master Chief, showing Rufus, still in his white suit attire as he wished to keep. He was on board the SF Frigion, a vessel he now called his capital ship of the Shinra Federation. He was on the bridge. "Master Chief. Speak."

"We need to talk about this."

Rufus sighed deeply, knowing this was coming, and crossed his arms. "I was wondering when you would speak up."

"Rufus, this isn't what I wanted. I wanted the fighting to end, not start anew. Attacking the Protoss, especially like this. It's just, it's not right. Why even do this? I know they refused to fold into your force but-"

Rufus chuckled. "Master Chief. We have to set an example, that we will expand, be a force to be reckoned with, to all those around us."

Master Chief was about to talk, but Rufus motioned with his hand to suggest Master Chief to wait a moment. "The Galactic Federation was a wounded and starved being, by the time it finally was put to rest. The forces around it watched, waiting, as it continued it's useless struggle with it's fellow creatures, just as large and more dangerous then it."

"Now we've calmed those giants, reformed and reborn anew, and must prove that we can stand up, fufill the needs of our body. Our body requires the resources we surrendered to smaller beings. They were leeching onto us, draining us without hardly giving anything back, because the old beast before allowed them to, not wishing to attempt to engulf them while fighting other, more evenly matched enemies."

"We must make them give up, becoming a part of us, or suffer and be eaten violently, like the Protoss. The Five outsider Ministers chose to say no to us, three, were quite unsure, two, were firm, calling us inhuman, one of them we've just mauled. With this example in play, that we do not tolerate such answers, will make the others rethink their choice."

Master Chief was silenced for a time, before Rufus spoke again. "Don't worry, I'm betting on this will be all we have to do, to allow my ambitions to show fruit. If the remaining four submit, then this has been worth it."

Chief shook his head. "Sir, but the Protoss will respond with attacks, try to get revenge for what you did."

"Let them try. I won't allow them to have any of these planets back. These belong to the SF, and it will remain this way. These planets, along with those I have declared ours from the Wisdom Sayians, will be our stepping stones, to the great beyond…trust me." with that, he disconnected the call.

Master Chief looked at Cortana, expecting her to say something about all this, against it all no doubt. Instead, she said "Perhaps, his got a good idea. Maybe this is the right direction to take…no matter how bloody it gets."

The green armoured trooper looked outside, to the void of space, past Cortana, looking down at the yellow coloured planet they just took over. "I hope so then…because they'll want payback. The Protoss don't forgive easily.."

* * *

The beginning of Civil war of the Federation.

Mere days after Twinkle Park, Rufus declared his new map of the Federation, what he declared as theirs.

It not only included planets from the outside Ministers, but also certain worlds on the boarders of both the United Federation of Planets and the Galactic Empire, claiming they were once in the control of the GF prior to Keaton's little war.

Unwilling to spark a second war, the United Federation of Planets agreed to submit those planets as long as their people were also allowed to stay if they refused to abandon their homes for Starfleet controlled territory. Rufus agreed to it.

The Galactic Empire wanted a fair compromise for the loss of four worlds in total. They suggested that in exchange for the worlds, they be given the blueprints for more advanced shield technology then what they had already, knowing the Shinra Federation had better. Rufus agreed to pass over the blueprints, and in exchange, the worlds were given, the people on them that weren't a citizen of the GF prior to the war, were taken off them by the brute force of the Galactic Empire.

The Hero Ministry, Mickey's Force and the Evil Ministry noticed they were in a tight spot now, as the new map included their territory entirely. fully folded into the Shinra Federation. They declared they required time to think this over, rather then just fold, as they waited on what the other two forces would say.

The Wisdom Sayians and the Protoss, with several of their worlds each being claimed by the SF, told Rufus, pretty much, where he could stuff it. The reason was, at first, they expected he would allow their people to stay and just wanted them to stop calling themselves a unique force.

Rufus told them about 60% of their people would be sent off the worlds to make way for actual Shinra Citizens, and all the resources and supplies of each world would only go to the Shinra Federation worlds. NO supplies or trades would be sent to the other worlds of the Protoss and Wisdom Sayians.

For both forces, this an unacceptable and wrong, and demanded Rufus rethink the deal if he even wants them to continue any trades with him. He thought about it for the coming month, and while doing so, he prepared the systematic bombardment with his warships, making sure they were all set up on the worlds nearby the Protoss, choosing them out of the two as the example setter.

The Protoss did take notice of the fleet forming, and asked the Galactic Empire for support, to monitor the situation as a neutral force, hoping this would put off any ideas Rufus had, if he had any.

Unfortunately the leader of the Galactic Empire, Emperor Palpatine, was in favour of Rufus's idea of aggressive expansion if required, and went as far as to fool the Protoss, lying to them about the fleet, saying they were simply ready for training on the outer rim, away from their territory once they were prepared.

Palpatine managed to gain the locations of all the communication arrays, space stations. and radar locations around and on every Protoss world, and informed Rufus of them. In Exchange, Rufus gathered what Palpatine was after, and agreed that once the Protoss were driven off the worlds within the SF, the SF would take a defensive stance, keeping to it's borders, and allow the Empire to strike at the weakened Protoss to claim their other worlds in the outer rim.

The little deceptive friendship by the Galactic Empire led to the Protoss lowering their guard, and then, it struck. The bombardment hit, and the Protoss were devastated.

Starfleet was horrified by the news of a sudden attack on the Protoss, but once again, in fear of respite and War, decided against sending aid or even demanding Rufus to stop. The Klingon Empire urged Starfleet to get in on the action, but they flatly said no to the idea.

Once the worlds were claimed by the SF, the Wisdom Sayians took note of the move, and contacted Rufus to submit to the terms, agreeing that they didn't wish to suffer the same loss, and instead of leaving any of their kind behind, they fully left the planets, choosing to attempt and expand on the outer rim.

The Hero Ministry and Mickeys Forces folded. Allowing themselves to be fully integrated into the Shinra Federation. The Evil Ministry still remained unsure of what to do, but Rufus knew, with the others already dealt with, Maleficent would see his point of view eventually.

During all this, there was a sixth force Rufus had looked into, the Drakon Empire, but after reviewing the previous battles and such against their single world, chose to class them as fully independent and off limits to all of SF, knowing that with their current technology, they just can't seem to win.

It was just one world though, and a race like them can only get so far with it's technology before it tries to look out to other world for advances, that's when the off limits will come into play, as no one will trade with them. Rufus didn't know how effective the Drakon Empire was with it's technology, but at least he was trying to break them.

The civil war name of this was declared when, in response to the attack on the Protoss, as Rufus expected, loyalists of the Galactic Federation tried to rise up and take him on, all small, minor factions that weren't any real danger, and could be picked off at leisure.

This was pretty much Rufus's business though.

The Hero Base 'Faction', now called as by those of the Federation, simply returned to it's Zebes base a few days after Twinkle Park, with plenty of fresh funding off Rufus to make improvements to their now 5 bases. Three which were already being improved by the Shinra Federation, as agreed by Rufus. They were the Hero Base on Earth X, being repaired and restored after Darkmega used it, the Wily Fortress, being upgraded and improved, and of course, Zebes base was being sorted out, but not just for the people.

Zebes has a grand amount of minerals that could be harvested from every few inches of dirt and rock of this planet, hence why the Pirates loved it. Wily and Light allowed Rufus's men to dig and create lower levels for the base, in exchange, any and at all minerals that were found will be handed over to the Shinra Federation for processing and use, unless it was classed as unknown, then Rufus expects the docs to, and quote "Make the unknown, known."

The funds that Wily and Light had were mostly going, along with money out of Yuan Shao's High Minister funding prior to his, without him really noticing, demotion, to the old bases. On Gaia X and Mute. The science and military bases they had gained as gifts from Rufus. Wily strictly told the engineers that were hired to stay on the top level of the base on Mute, and NEVER to go any lower, lest they wanted to be fired with no pay. He even demanded his son Regal to go and check on a day to day basis on how they were doing.

The Hero Base Faction had got themselves pulled into the civil war slightly, but only by sending the likes of Sima Yi and Zhou Yu, a tactician of Wu to assist in the bombardment and assaults of the worlds. It was a voluntary choice by both of the men, wanting to pay Rufus back for what he was doing for them.

The Hero Base Faction also had five newcomers to their group. Captain Falcon, the previous owner of the said base on Mute. He was accepted into the group as he needed to get away from the reforming Federation for the time being, as sponsors for his racing were, at the moment, paying a lot less then normal. This normally happens on reform, as they can avoid certain rules, so it's better to jump out of working with them, then return when things settled…that, and he got a little tired of hanging around in a luxury apartment in Mute City, being constantly annoyed by fans. It's all good for a time until you just want some peace and quiet…besides Roll now and then chatting to him a lot about F-Zero, no one else in the base bugged him. He liked that.

Next, was Dong Zhuo, an obese aka FAT man who liked money, food and women, and was rather rude to most, his tactician Li Ru, a scrawny weasel like fella who is more then happy to lick the boots of people, and Dong Zhuos, pretty much bodyguard Hua Xiong, a strong, muscled man who could take on 50 men and easily topple them. All three decided to get join the Hero Base Faction after attempting a small takeover on Earth V once the likes of Liu Bei, Cao Cao, Sun Jian and Yuan Shao left. It didn't end well. It was only recently that these three heard of where they went, and decided to join the band wagon.

Finally, there was another from Earth V. and was, by far, the odd one out of them all. Zhang Jiao. He was, to frankly put it, a hippie. He was the leader of a force called once the Yellow scarves, or, as now most of the universe calls them, the Yellow Turbans. Yellow Scarves had been used in a force way back in 200AP, when there was an empire under such a name. brutal and ruled by a tyrant, Zhang Jiao was more then happy to allow the renaming to occur to avoid relation to that group.

They were a religious sect, a force that was designed for the people, as they liked to be known for, problem was most of their efforts back in the day led to mass slaughter…of their own side thanks to lack of training. Zhang Jiao didn't like the repressive attitude of the Galactic Federation, and as soon as it was officially replaced, he chose to go to the hero base faction for a more freedom alliance. Meaning he wanted them to say they back the Yellow Turbans so they can do a little more then what they could under the Federation, aka, actually be allowed to spread their teachings instead of being ignored for the sake of the Blind 10 and it's rival belief, the temples of Azrael.

Dr Wily was VERY unsure about being related to cloud cuckoolanders that have a leader that shouts "THE HEEEAAAVEEENSS" , and Dr Light was shaking his head at the idea. But Yuan Shao was the one who suggested they just welcome him and his group into the fold, as most of Earth V's forces were on the side of the Hero Base Faction anyway, thanks to the likes of, Yuan Shao, Cao Cao and that being present.

They agreed that was a fair point, and let him join, on the agreement that someone to represent the Yellow Turbans must stay with them…Zhang Jiao willingly voted himself to stay, much to the unhappiness of Dr Wily.

Other then the newcomers, things were almost getting back to normality, whatever that was in the Hero Base, was up for debate, but right now, things were calm. Dr Light and Wily got the Chaos Emeralds as expected, and for now, as they were in actual fact the property of them instead of Shadow and co, put each one into use.

With the help of Keira and assistance of Regal and Yuichiro, after some small little test runs on converting chaos energy to useable all round energy, they managed to create slots on the Zebes base power generator for two of the emeralds. With them installed, they had no longer a need to actually use the generator power itself, what with the emeralds having infinite energy and all. The remaining four emeralds were to be sent to the Wily Fortress, Mute City Base, Gaia X base and Earth X base respectively, and installed once Keira had the time to head to each one. Shadow seemed perfectly fine with this. Rouge…well, she was annoyed, but so long as they can have the emeralds back by the end of their agreed year, she accepted it.

Chad and Anna were on the stage of hugs and kisses during these two months, quite happy about being together, although, granted, Chad would be more relaxed if Anna would kiss him when there wasn't so many people around, aka, Darkmega, who would now stare on purpose to put Chad right off.

Darkmega and Medi were much closer, and Medi was trying to ready him for the next step, often flirting with him in public, trying to touch him when she could, suggest to him to come to her room, the lot. He just wasn't sure about what to do, and picked on Chad for answers. Chad demanded he just go and talk to the docs, or let Medi take command in the bedroom if Darkmega wasn't man enough.

It was during one evening now, that Anna decided the time was right, and suggested to Chad, to come back to her room, as she wanted to…give, him something. Once Anna left him alone, he quickly finished a drink of Dr Pepper, told Darkmega to stop annoying him, said to the docs he'll have his com-link off for the night, and was heading right to her room…

* * *

Sex.

Fuck yes.

Chad was finally going to see Anna's beautiful body, he was finally going to touch it in ways his always wanted, to do her and make her feel pleasure. His felt his heart race, making his chest tighten, as he quickly was walking down the corridors, heading towards her room.

Was she gonna be naked on arrival? Maybe wear something incredibly kinky? See through nightwear or something? Oh man, the thoughts alone made a certain area already rise to the occasion, he just wanted to finally go to this stage with her.

He had to admit though, he was also nervous. Was she gonna like the look of his body? Was he gonna be…well…adequate, for her? He tried to ignore the worry, knowing she liked him already enough to give off this level of hints to him, so why get worked up?

He soon saw her door, and standing guard in front of it, was Zhang He, who had his arms crossed, watching Chad walk this way. He boldly walked towards it, expecting Anna to have let Zhang He know of what was going on, and he'll let the worried lad past…

Nope.

Chad bumped right into Zhang He, taking a step back in surprise at the guys not moving aside-ness. "…Um, Hey Zhang He."

Zhang He looked at him with suspicion. "Yes, Mr Malyan?"

"W-well, I, I was wondering if you could, ya know, get outta my way?"

The bodyguard to Chad's girl gave a huff. "And why would I allow you to pass?"

"Well, Anna said to, um, come back to her room because she wanted to give, me something?"

"And what did you think it implied hm? Miss Anna is enjoying a rest on her bed right now."

"Yeah, because, you know, she's expecting me to JOIN her?"

Zhang He glared at Chad a little. "You horny little man."

"Excuse me?"

"Anna has said you were coming to see her EARLIER, but since she is resting, I do not want you to get the wrong idea of what she wants to give you."

Chad was now getting really annoyed. "Look you idiot she asked me here alright! Only a good 10 minutes ago!"

"…Have you taken the male pill? The sperm nullifying one?"

"Of course I have! I ain't ready to have a kid!"

"Then you're expecting sex. I'm sorry, but I won't let you pass. Anna needs her beauty sleep." with that, he turned his head away from Chad.

"Listen you, you goddamn cock-blocker! Anna gave me the hints all day today, and finally asked me!"

"I'm not listening. Anna would inform me if she was expecting someone to take her virginity."

Chad was dumbstruck. "What the hell! Why would she tell you that! So you let the guy who's gonna take it to pass?"

Zhang He nodded.

"…You're bullshitting me."

"That's the rules I have I'm afraid. If you're so horny, just return to your room and…work it out."

Chad was glaring angrily now. "Just, sod off will you! She knows I'm coming!"

Zhang He shook his head. "Please leave before I demand Dr Light send others to remove you from this area."

"What? Just because I want to shag my girlfriend!? We've gone out long enough and like each other enough!"

Zhang He stayed put. "Yes. because of that, I would."

"UGHH!" with that, Chad stormed off, sick and tired of this. He was gonna be having words with Anna tomorrow over this, that's for damn sure.

Anna had been actually having a shower during all this, and had just got out, deciding to keep just a large grey towel wrapped around her, sitting on the bed, drying and combing her hair, getting herself ready for Chad. 'This is it, this the night.' she thought to herself.

She had taken the female addition of the pill to stop any eggs from coming for the next week, and once her hair was done, she at first was unsure if she should remain just in a slightly wet towel, but decided it would be a little treat to Chad to see more of her this way, before seeing everything.

A few hours passed. Anna chose to just get into the bed, naked. She didn't like sleeping naked, but none the less, she wanted to surprise him somehow. Soon, she heard Zhang He knock. "Anna? I'm going to bed now sweetie. Have a good sleep."

Sleep isn't on her menu tonight, so she was hoping. "Yeah I will Zhang He. Goodnight."

Soon she found herself, head on the pillow, out like a light, snoozing her head off. And no Chad in sight…well, unless you count in her dreams, him touching her in the right places and everything, but in reality, no.

The next morning, at around 8am, Chad was seen in his normal gear, sitting in the main room of the Base, looking like a black storm was overhead. He now the drillers and such walk by, heading off to the areas they were allowed into, then Charlie arrived, wearing his specs, looking at Chad, slightly amused. "…And whats got you in a foul mood this fine morning? It's not the rain season anymore if you want to go out."

Chad mumbled loudly "Goddamn Cock-Blocking Zhang He…"

Charlie raised his eyebrow slightly, and eventually, sat down next to Chad. "And what has Anna's bodyguard done? Try to touch you up?"

"Denied me some fun with Anna last night."

The blond muscled guy chuckled. "I take it his defensive attitude with Anna is now showing the negative sides of having a bodyguard. Does Anna know about this?"

"Planning to tell her soon enough."

In time, others came, such as Pang Tong, Xiahou Dun, Zhang Jiao, who was busy mumbling to himself by the looks of it, holding his staff and watching the others, Laserman, Dr Yuichiro, looking quite happy, carrying a clipboard with several sheets of paper, looking like charts of something, and finally, Anna came in, with no Zhang He in sight…for now.

She saw Chad, and she was ready to question why he was a no show, but with his stormy looking face, she had a feeling something didn't go too well. "…Chad?"

He looked at her, stood up, went towards her, and told her straight. "Your bodyguard is a cock-blocker."

"What?"

Malyan was now looking at her, with a matter of fact written all over his face. "Yep. His a cock-blocker. I wanted to see you last night, he denied me entry to your bedroom. Saying you had to inform him of when you were going to, lose, your virginity. He threatened to call Dr Light to have me taken away for trying to get in. yet you even told him I was due to come and see you."

"Well I said it was gonna be a relaxing night to him and you'll be coming round…maybe he felt I was hinting to wanting to be alone or something. He can't help it Chad."

Charlie quipped in "By the way, is Cock-blocker his nickname now?"

"Yes."

"No." the 'No' coming from Anna, the 'Yes' was pretty obvious as to who said that. Anna frowned at Chad right away. "Chad!"

"What? He pissed me off!"

Anna and Chad started to get into a heated debate about Zhang He's restrictions while as a bodyguard, when on one of the large tv monitors in the main room, the, now named Shinra Federation news came on. Laserman told them both to quieten down for a moment, which both did so, albeit it took a moment.

On the Screen was a lady with brown, tied back hair, light make-up on, tanned skin and a brown office suit on. The title of the breaking news was "Protoss under siege! Civil War is ignited across the Federation!"

Dr Wily and Dr Light walked out of the labs, knowing it was news time, and watched with the others.

The newswoman spoke, as a video of a bombardment of one of the major cities on a Protoss world was being shown, blue proton type weapons flaring down to the city, blasting the yellow, golden like buildings into clouds of smoke and ash, Protoss defence turrets, unleashing a flurry of small green energy rounds, trying to fire at the ship that had recorded this.

"Today, over Seven of the Protoss worlds within the Shinra Federation had been attacked by our military force. The act of aggression was confirmed to go ahead by the Emperor, who had, during the reform, placed the worlds of our allies as our own, and demanded that they submit them. The initial attacks had been noted for crippling the Protoss communications, radar stations and space docks on the planets, leaving the Protoss with very little for escape."

"It has been reported that many had demanded a rapid ceasefire, but our forces continued to push against them. It's believed the death toll for the Protoss race has reached over 11 Billion. In the report that we have gained this morning, all seven worlds that were under attack had now been fully taken over. The battles against the space stations of the Protoss within Shinra Federation Space, is still continuing as far as we know. More on this, as it develops."

"Continuing on." Then the video footage disappears, now showing two flags on separate poles, crossed over. One, the Shinra Federation, the other, the Galactic Federation. "Galactic Federation loyalists continue to rise in numbers. Many of them claim the attack on the Protoss is 'unjust' and 'cruel'. they believe that Emperor Rufus is nothing more then a tyrant, who has 'chosen to attack the very allies we sought to protect and work with'. With the loyalists, came rumours, that the deceased Grand Commander Keaton Al'Keriff, believed to have died during the danger of Unicron at the age of 55, is leading the rise against the new Federation. Many officials of the Shinra have heard the rumours, and deny them, claiming that the rebels are just all small factions, who soon will disappear into old memories."

Dr Wily was heard scoffing when Keaton was mentioned. "Hah, the very notion that moron is alive…those loyalists really must be desperate."

Dr Light agreed with that. "The desperation comes from the fact that everything is changing. Some people just can't accept it." he then changed the news channel, looking for a more local one for where Earth X was located. "Now let's see what's happening around our home."

It now had a Guy, bald, with a blue office suit on, and on a screen nearby him, was a red question mark. "-And there has been no conclusion to the mystery attacks in areas across Canada and Alaska. Local Security force have sent out search teams to try and find what's been killing wild animals and humans alike, but even they, have not avoided the mystery attacks. Recently, a group of 5 men vanished suddenly during one search, and very, very little of them remain. What was left, according to the report, had 'fang bites, and claw marks. An unknown animal that certainly isn't a creature of this world'. some of the remains have been sent to research stations for traces of DNA."

Laserman crossed his arms, looking towards the docs. "Alaska and Canada at the same time huh? Must mean it, or they, cross the border often, which means somewhere inbetween is the Hero Base. Did any of you leave something unchecked when we had to abandon it way back when?"

Dr Light shook his head. "All that was left behind was some of the peoples gear, a few data programs we failed to grab on the way out, and a few giant mantises that Wily made to pass the time in one of the supply rooms. I'm sure Rufus said about the builders that have been sent to the base have already had to wipe them out."

Albert then had himself an idea. "Well, we can't just allow this to continue in that area. If the things attack the base, with those builders and engineers, Rufus might get a little unhappy about having to pay their families for their deaths. I propose we send our own little team to investigate into this matter."

Chad chuckled. "Doc, I doubt very much we need to send our own. Let Rufus handle it. Besides, all we'll do is kill whatever it is when we find it. We're not the best research assistants you could want Wily."

"Oh I have no intention of us having to look into what it is. I just want it dead."

"Even…though it could be a new species of life? Perhaps it's genes can, cure an illness within the Federation? Save thousands? Millions perhaps?"

Dr Wily laughed. "Oh heavens no! none of that matters. Screw if it's wrong to just kill them, I just want the little fuckers out of our range. If you can make them flee from the border and never go back to it, I'm game. If you can't, wipe 'em out. And since you seem to be interested in this-"

"-No no. I'm goo-" Chad quickly tried to reply.

"-I'm going to have you be the first person on this little mission of ours. Relax Malyan, it's the great outdoors, forests in abundance, and of course the lovely wide open grassland near the base! You can run around so long as the others I'll send with you don't mind."

Zhang Jiao thought for a moment, hearing what Dr Wily had said, before he looked to those around him, and spoke. "My brothers, I must ask you, what, is truly right and wrong? Are those that bring justice really in the right? To force laws, repression? Or is it those that fight for freedom, to break the chains of that repression in the right? This are the questions that every man, woman and child, be it an innocent mobian, or an angry Wisdom Sayians, or even a humble Klingon, have been thinking for many generations, and those questions have yet to have a real answer to them."

"I feel that what is right, is what we believe. We cannot fully agree to those around us, a sad fate for mankind and others, but it is one we must accept, move on with. We are bound to this eternal struggle of self understanding, between us, and our own flesh and blood. A fate of war and suffering, of battles and bloodshed, which may continue, untill the very end of time itself. What a horrible thought, many of you are thinking…"

"But how far must we go before we feel we are in the wrong? That our proud morals had fallen from their once good grace? How much must you do before you see that your actions have done nothing but to hurt people with no reward to yourself or those you want to protect? You must decide, my brothers. decide when to stop, and always be watchful. If you take a step too far, stray from the path you have made, those that were once wrong to you, may certainly prove to be right in the end, and bring the heavens wrath back to your people. We have all done this before, and will do it again, but with this thought in mind, perhaps, we will be able to make a slight difference to the universe around us."

"The universe is such a precious thing, and wonderful soul, a giant mother nature that watches us and feeds us well, but in return, we bicker and fight between ourselves, making the mother saddened, by her children striking eachother down with anger and hatred as their swords, and self understanding as their shields, claiming to do what is right for everyone else. To force the free soul to undergo change, make it become shackled by chains of despair. A horrible end indeed, but it has happened many times, and sometimes, it has been sorted out, people have seen the evil and wrongdoing they have done, and helped those that suffered, regain that freedom!"

…There was silence, as Zhang Jiao just stood there, before Xiahou Dun spoke up. "…What's that got to do with anything right now?"

Zhang Jiao then noticed, that everyone was giving him a strange look, the one that pretty much said just by look alone, 'You're a looney.', was Dr Wily's. "Well, nothing, just thought it might be some good advice to you all..."

Dr Wily couldn't believe it, looking away for a moment, then looking at Zhang Jiao once again, before starting to walk back to the labs, mumbling "Right and bloody wrong, and bloomin' understanding… Seriously, I need to speak to Thomas again about who we allow to stay in this goddamn place…clearly someone thinks no one knows of that boring shit already…" Dr Light and Dr Yuichiro quickly followed suit.

This of course, left Chad still with no choice but to go to Earth X. Zhang Jiao did nothing to change that. "Goddamnit Wily…" Chad cursed.

* * *

Four hours later…

Chad took a deep breath. The air was clean and crisp today, the sun shining, clear blue skies…and it only took them a few seconds to get from Zebes to Earth X. he was thankful Wily got teleporters first installed in the Zebes base as soon as they returned to it. Chad was dreading the idea of going around in a transport ship just to look for, what could amount to a killer rabbit, on Earth.

Wily had agreed with Rufus that teleporters were required in all of the Hero Faction controlled buildings, for the sake of rapid response instead of waiting around for a hired transport ship, or buying a few and getting the goddamn insurance for them, which was a bitch in some areas of the Federation. Teleporters are most certainly expensive, yes, but Rufus was more then happy to pay for them…it was in the deal with the minerals from Zebes, so eventually Rufus will get his money back for it.

Chad stood there, in the grassland near the Hero base of Earth, with Link, Xiahou Yuan, Sun Shang Xiang, much to the despair of Sun Jian when she wanted to go and help, Mr T, Zhang Liao, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Soundwave, who was brought in to help detect any unusual sounds that aren't related to any species on Earth X. Wily got him installed with all the known sounds that come from all the species so far known on the world.

The humanoid mobian was thankful the group he was with wasn't that bad, and it did, at least, give him time away from Anna to let her sort things out with Zhang He. He just hoped Zhang He wouldn't get her around to his sort of thinking, because knowing Zhang He, that means Chad won't be allowed anywhere near her when the word sex pops up.

Sonic was just eager to get a move on once they arrived. "Come on! Let's just race around the forests in the distance! Maybe we'll easily spot whatever it is that way!"

Soundwave decided to answer this. "Negative. Unknown mass and width of the being. You do not know what to look for, the attempt to 'race around' will only waste time. I shall begin sensory mode, and alert once unknown sounds have been detected."

"Good idea big ol' bot. if we just hang around the base and the land here, waiting for him to detect where the monster is, things would be a helluva lot easier on us." Mr T said. Once he saw the slight disappointed look of Sonic though.. "But that don't mean you can't go and have a little free run. Just be careful, is all I'm sayin'."

Sonic was gone, off in an instant. Chad decided to flex his own legs a little, changing into his mobian form and heading off. Tails rushed off to follow Sonic, and the others all decided to stick together, waiting for Soundwave, who's gone silent, to alert them of anything strange or unknown.

For over six hours, nothing happened, much to the annoyance of a few of 'em. It was evening now, the sun just setting, Soundwave still stood there, listening out carefully. Mr T, Knuckles and Zhang Liao had taken the time to see the old Base, ask the engineers working on it how things were, and even had a few rounds in the hologram rooms.

Sun Shang Xiang, Xiahou Yuan and Link had taken the time to test each others skill out with the bow. All of them had their own, and were known for their abilities, so Xiahou Yuan felt it would be a good idea to see who can get a bulleye on an X they made on a tree that they decided to use, depending on the distance. The last one to miss getting a bulleye would win. Sun Shang managed to beat them on all five rounds they did. They were right now sitting close together on the ground, near Soundwave.

"You know I would've beaten you on the last round we had if Xiahou Yuan wasn't going on about me looking like I was aiming a little off to the right. If he noticed, I missed to the left because of him." Link grumbled.

"Oh don't be so sore, I had the same thing off him ya know, just I chose to ignore him, block him out of my head while I was focusing. You gain that kind've ability when you hang around my dad all the time and he goes on about your husband. Years of practice." The daughter of Sun Jian answered.

Xiahou Yuan was just laying on the ground, rubbing the back of his head a little. "Gotta say it's pretty damn impressive what you can do with a bow though Link. Your one seems to be quite flexible compared to mine. What's it called and what planet did you get it from?"

"Oh this?" Link pulled his bow out, letting Xiahou Yuan look at it properly. "It's called the Hero Bow. It's from my world, Hylian."

"Ah Damnit. that's a shame." Xiahou Yuan smiled at him in a joking manner. "Looks like I won't be able to get myself one anytime soon eh? Ya know, thanks to Unicron eating it and all, heh…"

There was nothing but silence from Link. As he turned away from Xiahou Yuan and Sun Shang, the woman glaring at Xiahou Yuan for what he said. That was Link's homeworld afterall, of course it would be a sensitive subject that shouldn't be taken lightly, after it was confirmed by the news. Zelda had took it to heart herself, crying for a few nights…Xiahou Yuan soon realized. "Oh, Link, s-sorry man. I didn't mean that in any disrespectful way…"

Link didn't answer.

The others, Mr T, Knuckles, Zhang Liao, Sonic and such all were nearby Soundwave themselves. Sonic was laying on the ground, waiting and humming to himself. Zhang Liao was cleaning his Guan Dao, keeping it all sharp and set, and Mr T and Chad were seen, really, the only ones watching carefully of the forests in the distance.

Chad couldn't shake a feeling right now, like he knew something was out there. Something he knew…

Soundwave then suddenly came to life. "Detecting unknown sounds. It does not match any known species on the planet. Activating recording."

All it was, to all of them but Chad, was a series of rapid clicking. At first some of them felt Soundwave just picked up just something small hitting its little claws on eachother, but then he did say it didn't match any species…

Chad was hearing words from it. Faint, but he understood it. It was saying "Find us Overmind, Find us. We are lost. We are lost." it was repeating, as if just hoping something will answer, like it was a distress signal. Chad now knew all too well what it was. "Zerg…"

Mr T looked at him strangely. "How'd you know that 'hog? It could be anything. Granted that I even heard this from them before but why would they be on this planet?"

The lad knew explaining he understood it was pointless, last time this occurred they couldn't understand he can hear words compared to them. Why he can and they can't, he doesn't know or care. "Does that matter as to why they're here right now? We need to catch them! Soundwave, where is this coming from?"

He pointed to the south, towards one small batch of the pine forests surrounding the base. "Sound is continuing to emit from that location. Estimate, 700 meters from our current location."

Chad was gone, in his mobian form, running off into the pine. Sonic saw him and quickly rushed after him, as eventually, so did the others but Soundwave, who Mr T motioned to, to stay put and wait for them.

The red Mobian found himself just jumping over whatever small rocks embedded in his path, dodging trees with ease, listening out carefully for the Zerg. He begun hearing their call soon enough, just like the one Soundwave got. They were still making the call, and when he got closer, it suddenly stopped, making him come to a standstill, in the middle of a thick part of the pine tree forest..

Had they detected him? Were they just preparing to move on? He was unsure, and slowly put his hand on the hilt of the Blade of Darkness, very cautiously, bringing the blade out of it's casing. All he could hear now, was the chirps and calls of the birds, even the odd hoot of an owl…

Then he got his answer.

He heard it suddenly behind him, screeching just as it launched itself into the air to him, claws ready on its hands. Chad had spun round just in time, swinging his trusted blade, and slicing the creature in half, it's legs going one way, it's body and head another, green blood flowing out across the forest dirt.

Then he heard a few others, and saw them in the distance a little…already running towards him, their red skin darkened to try and hide them in the dark night. To others, it would be like ghosts coming, to Chad, his eyes picked them up, as one got in range, and he plunged his blade right through it's head, then kicking its dead body away, before swinging his sword once more, dicing another Zergs head clean off it's torso, the blood leaking out of the neck as the body stumbled to the floor. He had to quickly roll to the side, next to a tree to avoid a third Zerg, as it took a swing with it's hand.

It looked right at him, and tried again, sending it's hand forward, the sharp steel looking claws embedded to the top of it's hand coming to his face, when he fell back, leaning on the tree and slid down to almost sit, ducking the attack pretty much, allowing the creature to stab it's claw hand into the tree behind Chad, before he blasted the creature apart with a Chaos beam, it's red light glowing through the thick area as it ripped the Zerg to pieces.

He had a second to rest like this, before he heard the snarl of another Zerg, looking up, and seeing it on the tree, looking right down at him, and about to jump, when something blue and round had smashed into it's side, cracking several of it's ribs and making it fly off, crashing to the ground. Landing near it, on his feet, ready to attack again, was Sonic.

It had got up, despite the damage, and prepared to attack, and with help, as Sonic noticed four more were coming towards him and Chad. "Alright then! Come on!" was all the Blue Hedgehog answered the incoming challenge with, as he leapt up into the air, and used his homing ability on the one he hit before, smashing into it's head with an alarming speed, shattering it's skull and the fragments stabbing into it's brain, killing it, before doing the same to the next one that had just got close enough. The remaining three were getting close, when Chad first Chaos beamed one right through it's stomach, Sonic smashed into the head of another to make it a triple combo wipe out his done, and Chad finally getting up, and launching himself at the last one, bringing his sword down vertically as he landed, slicing it almost in perfect halves.

Chad lifted his blade up once more, ready for others, when he heard the faint sound of arrows, followed by screeches of pain, before several Zerg, no doubt hiding in the trees, fell to the forest floor, some with an arrow in the chest, others in the head, even one, as it landed right next to Chad, had an arrow right inbetween the slits of its eyes. Link, Xiahou Yuan and Sun Shang arrived on the scene, with Xiahou Yuan quickly claiming the one with the arrow between the eyes was his.

Mr T showed up, as did Knuckles, Zhang Liao and Tails, when, around them all as they gathered, at least another 30 to 35 Zerg were spotted running to them, now they all knew the location thanks to the chaos beams and screeches of their fallen. "The enemy appears to be rather numerous." Zhang Liao commented, preparing his weapon. "We must be careful and work together!"

Mr T simply cracked his knuckles and got to work. As the first lot got close, he unleashed a flurry of blows, each one seemingly making an actual hole in the creatures, shedding them into small chunks. Zhang Liao swung his weapon and craved through them like butter, and the few that managed to dodge him and try to make an attack, Knuckles intercepted and smashed their faces in with his spiked gloves.

Tails managed to punch one a few times, and using his tails to quickly fly out of range as it tried to swipe him, and then it received a fresh steel arrow straight through it's forehead, fired by Link. Xiahou Yuan had stopped using his bow and pulled out his battering rod, the iron spiked pole crushing the organs and bones of the Zerg that tried to come to him, and Chad, as he was busy slashing a few down while not noticing one was coming up just out of his eyesight, aiming to stab its claw into his back. It found it's brain suddenly turned to mush by Xiahou Yuan's rod, landing right on top of it's head with force.

Sonic was raking up the kills with the homing attack, becoming a blur to a bunch of the Zerg, none of them managing to hit the mobian as he landed on them, killing them with speed. Sun Shang Xiang kept her bow out, firing arrows at anything that had the dark red skin, and eventually, she aimed and fired two final arrows at a Zerg, hitting it right in the lower waist, and one right in it's left shoulder, making it screech and stumble back, hitting a tree, and sliding down it to the floor, still alive, but bleeding out slowly, it's precious green fluid oozing from the wound. She was about to finish it off, noticing every other Zerg was dead, when Chad quickly stopped her, raising his hand. "Wait!"

"Chad?" Mr T was quite surprised with Chads sudden demand for them to stop.

"It's the final one around here! There must be a reason why it was calling for it's Overmind! I want to know!" Chad knew they don't understand, all looking at him weirdly, but they listened none the less, lowering their weapons and fists, as Chad focused on the wounded Zerg….there was a reason why he wanted to ask…

The Zerg looked at him, knowing it was not long for this realm. "You understand our language…"

"Yes. Find us Overmind…We are lost…Who is your Overmind, Zerg?"

It looked down to the floor for a moment, then at Chad, as if looking carefully for something. "…You were he that was wounded by the Overmind. Overmind Richard."

The others were just baffled and shocked, as they saw Chad look surprised and answered with "Richard? Where is he? What happened to him after Junon? Why are you all here?"

The Zerg went silent for a moment, before it's voice became slightly quicker, to those near Chad, it sounded like the clicking had slowed. "Overmind was taken from us, a creature called, Chaos, Stole him. Defeated him in combat before our eyes. We wait, for his return…our entire brood wait for him…"

The others then noticed, as they quickly got ready for a fight….over two hundred Zerg, all of them seemingly coming from the trees, close to the wounded one, snarling and ready to attack as well, all noticing Chad and his allies as enemies. So much for Chad's claim that the wounded Zerg was the final one around.

Chad kept his cool about it, now knowing that his sworn enemy, Chaos, is back in the mess. "Listen, you're not our enemy. And we're not yours for that matter. Richard was…once a friend that's been twisted to be your Overmind. I want him back on our side, as you want him back too."

The Zerg stayed ready, as the wounded one spoke. "Why should we believe you? Your smell carries the blood of an enemy to us.."

Chad chose to just ignore that. "Please. His an ally of mine. You want him back like I do, that's our common ground, along with Chaos being our enemy. Leave this part of the land, go much deeper south, attack only the wildlife, not humans or mobians. Richard wouldn't want his….people, I suppose, to be killed off before he returns. Go, and I promise to you, I'll get him back to your kind."

The wounded Zerg looked to his allies, who slowly begun backing away, snarling a little, but eventually, the darkness of the forest hid them all from view, and slowly, silence followed, all but the weak breathing of the dieing Zerg. "We…Will…Wait for his…Return…" and with that, it slumped over. It's last breath came and went.

Chad went silent for a time, in his head, his mind was racing. Chaos was active again after he forced Chad to miss two years of his life. Why now? Why after Unicron? Why not during Unicron, why didn't he help the planet eater have his way? Or even assist Darkmega during their battle on Zebes?

And why Richard? He boiled that down to either because of Richard being a human Overmind, and thus his DNA, or the fact Chaos was trying to grab Chad's attention by taking a friend of his and knowing this would happen. With other villains the latter would be stupid, but this was Chaos. His intelligence was dangerously high, and he could read Chad like a book. He knows fate seems to have it in for Chad.

Chad looked to the others, and Mr T spoke up. "…Hog? What the hell was all that about? What was that about Richard and 'Chaos'?"

"…We gotta head back to the base. I need to talk to Wily and Darkmega."

* * *

A dome shaped ceiling and walls, metal, grey, dull. Several small cameras on the walls, monitoring whatever was inside this dome. There was a dozen or so white lights, giving plenty of light so none of the room was dark, for the cameras to record everything.

The floor was the same dull appearance, only difference was it had, in massive, yellow paint "X-10 CHAMBER". two doors led out of this place, both covered in yellow and black stripes of paint, both hard steel doors, locked tight untill whoever was monitoring found it fit to unlock them.

There was blood on the floor. Red, thick blood, splashed across the floor in several small puddles and streaks, as if someone just threw a bottle of it on the metal ground, shattering on impact.

In one puddle, there was a body. It was a tall humanoid, pale skinned where blood didn't cover it, medium brown hair, grey eyes, a rather muscled, wearing steel breastplate armor, leggings, gauntlets and boots…all which had been stabbed into and damaged, blood marking them. It had once carried a giant Iron spear, which weighed at least a ton, easily carried by this guy. The spear now on the floor, it's tip shattered off the top of the pole, across the floor. The pole, laid next to the figure, who had his face blasted off. Shot by an energy gun, leaving burnt and charred flesh, with only one eye visible. That shot was the last thing the being saw before it perished.

Over at a nearby wall, the dome had been penetrated. A sword had managed to stab through the thick wall…on the wall in question, what led to the blade going in, was a body, with the blade plunged right through the head of it and into the wall, it's face sliced apart, and blood freshly flowing, dripping to the floor.

All what could be said about this average height human, was that he had long brown hair, was skinny and pale, and wore a thin, tight fitting grey suit all over it's body, and had been carrying a samurai sword, which now just laid on the floor, it's handle covered in the red fluid of it's owner.

The figure who committed these two kills, the one who still held onto the sword in the wall tightly, as he savoured the moment of this second kill he made? He was about 6 feet tall, very close to 7, thin and lightly muscled, his skin a tanned peachy colour, his hair was brown and medium in length, just all allowed to flow freely, so it had this windswept effect to it at all times. He was stark naked, all but an black leather eye patch that covered over his right eye, as he had chosen to be for this, his…personal treasure to put it as, was a decent size, covered at the base lightly in brown hair. He lacked any other hair on his body, from his chest to legs. The only thing on his body right now, was drips of blood from both his targets, and his two weapons, one in each hand.

One as we know was in the head and wall, a vibrosword. A blade equipped on the hilt with a compact ultrasonic generator, causing the sword to vibrate at an incredible speed, making even the slightest glancing blow become a gaping wound. It was technology that the Galactic Empire had pretty much cut the use of over thousands of years, whereas the Galactic Federation and SCI before it had only recently brought them into production.

In his other hand, a simple GF advanced issue energy pistol. The difference between a standard issue, which was known for being pretty much useful for defending your own home, just, and the advanced issue is that the advanced had a charge up add on, so with a little time, you could fire a round that packed a much larger punch…though randomly thanks to the pistol still being cheaply made, this could, after the shot is fired, overheat the gun and fry the poor thing, making it completely useless.

The person slowly pulled the sword out of the wall and the victim, and held it close, as the body of his target slid to the floor. A male voice came through into the dome, from a few speakers hidden close to the cameras. "Oh for the LOVE of AZRAEL! Must you do some actual damage to this place during this?! They were the first two! The more stupid ones! You didn't need to go overboard with them!"

Inside a darkened room filled with over 30 different computer monitors, some on the walls, on table tops, and a few hanging on the ceiling, was two figures. One was sitting at several of the monitors and had a microphone near him. He was rather small, aged at around 47, close to bald apart from three patches of hair, two to the sides of his head, and one small one just protruding from the top, all dark blue and frazzled. He had a goatee to go with it. He wore a white, short sleeved scientist coat, a black underlay suit, dark brown leather gloves and boots, and black trousers. His most distinguishable feature wasn't his pigment of skin, for a human, a greenish yellow, but the silver embedded 'N' on his forehead. This was to make him stand out of the coat just a little more, if anything.

With him was a tall, slim build woman. She was 25 years of age. She wore a long sleeve white scientist overcoat, black trousers, black shoes and white gloves. She was…quite busty, in chest size, and her rear was ample. She had long straight blond hair, and deep blue eyes, with light pink skin and red lips.

The one at the table with the monitors was Dr Neo Cortex. With him was a fellow scientist named Kei Yuki, the daughter to the once High Minister, Dante Yuki. They were both watching what had been going on inside the dome arena. Neo Cortex was not impressed with the subject inside. "Seriously, you might as well got a nuke and tossed it to the floor in there!"

The figure inside was silent, looking at one of the cameras. Kei looked to Cortex, and spoke with a kind, gentle voice. "They were his brothers in creation. Perhaps he felt it was right to deal with them at the best of his ability."

Cortex slid the microphone away, across the table a little so the figure inside couldn't hear them. "Yes, but according to what we expected, he shouldn't of even needed to move from the spot when they came in. he should be thinking with efficiency, not about who his targets are!"

"But he defeated them regardless." Kei responded. She looked at a few of the monitors, which were showing the life readings of the three present subjects. Subject called "Warrior" was deceased. That was the giant of a man with the spear. Subject "War" was deceased, the samurai sword holder, who got his skull destroyed. Then, there was subject "Dark", who had no damage whatsoever, his heart keeping a decent pace, and no sign of stress or panic, during and after the battle, was noted.

"Well now these next two should make him wish he didn't waste so much energy on those previous idiots…" Cortex said, before he returned the microphone close to him. "Alright Dark. The next two are ready to enter the arena. Do what you do best and destroy them. Failure means death, as you already know."

He turned away from the monitors, looking at Kei. " I still wonder why his allowed to terminate these four failures. I mean, sure, they can't communicate and are gone in the mind, mad wise, but they're still useful to toss at enemy lines, right? And why him out of the three that were successful? Personally I think the 5th project would've been more suited to be tested, we already know the 7th is a successful beyond doubt. The 6th, well, his just…him."

Kei nodded in agreement with the whole testing part. "I understand where your coming from Cortex, but Dark wanted to put his brothers to rest, and our commander accepted it. Subject 5, Unholy, and subject 6, Light, are fine to him."

That's when they hear the door into the room slide open, and Chaos, wearing his sunglasses, even in this dim light, walked in. With him, was an old, bald man, with thin eyebrows and a curled, silver goatee, his eyes are a golden colour, and his skin is heavily tanned and he had ears which were pointed like an elf. He wore a white and black coat with a red inner lining, over a white shirt with two thin black belts, as well as white gloves and knee high black boots. He wore, on the left side of his coat, a small silver medal, which was that of the wings of an eagle, with a human skull inbetween. This was Xehanort, head of Shadowlaw.

Shadowlaw is a shadow organization of the Federation. Designed to keep certain things hidden from the public eye, and commit acts which would undermine the Federation rule, such as brutal murders, science experiments which were dangerous, and manufacturing illegal weapons, selling them or stealing them from certain inside groups. All this, Shadowlaw once was. Now it was but a crippled body of the Federation, damaged throughout the years thanks to people within the Federation itself.

The most notable group that brought Shadowlaw into the light from it's attempted mission to not be known, was Group 666, led by General Grievous, who became Xehanorts number one enemy over time, always hindering their plans. The commanders they both worked for, Armstrong Houston, and even Keaton, knew of who they were and the conflicts they were getting into, but allowed it nonetheless, to keep testing Shadowlaw, and to prove to the public that group 666 was a team to be feared.

This all pretty much became decided and finished, when Keaton openly declared Armstrong as insane, taking a weapon which was founded and watched over by Shadowlaw, and wanted to use it against the Universe. Grievous and Xehanort met one last time within the fortress that Armstrong declared his last stand, and both fought, untill the news of Armstrong Houston's death reached them. From that day, Shadowlaw was damaged beyond repair, as Keaton decided to terminate most of it's operations for their siding with Houston's mad ideas.

Xehanort smiled a little at Kei, then at Cortex. "Ah, both of you. How is subject 7 doing?"

"It's doing fine. A little overconfident with it's abilities and can't seem to restrain itself, but fine. It's killed Subjects 1 and 2, Warrior and War, and is now in combat with Subjects 3 and 4, Death and Speed." Cortex answered flatly, before focusing on the monitors, seeing the subject now in combat, easily deflecting and knocking away two new targets. One was human…ish. He had no skin on his skull, only flesh, his eyes glowing red and screeching at subject 7, carrying two short swords, and wearing full Galactic Federation armor, minus the helmet. This was Subject 3, Death.

Subject 4, Speed, was a thin man, carrying two small daggers, wearing a tight skin outfit over his body and face, with only a thing mouth piece to breath through, and eyes slits to see. The suit was equipped with a stealth camouflage device, making him almost invisible to the naked eye, and true to the name his labelled, his incredibly fast, on level with that of Sonic.

Chaos walked over to the monitors that showed the footage of what was happening, as did Xehanort. Chaos was amused by something. "…Why is he naked? And why has he got an eye patch over his right eye?"

Kei gave an answer. "Oh well, he asked to be such, sir. He felt it was only fair to them if he didn't have any armor to protect himself, and covered one of his eyes to give them a little more of an advantage. He feels he can defeat anyone with just one eye instead of two."

"Overconfident, just as you said Cortex…still, his proving his worth so far.." Xehanort responded, watching closely. "That reminds me, Subject 6. I heard the commander wants him left in the cyro chamber untill otherwise stated, is that correct?"

Cortex nodded. "His just a mistake in the processing. He gained abilities and a personality which the commander just doesn't want, but at the same time, his fully capable and able to perform any tasks which we require. I guess the commander feels he might be needed at a later time. This leaves us with 7 and 5..." he shudders. "5.…Unholy….ugh, just thinking of him gives me the chills. What a freak.."

Chaos chuckled a little. "Unholy is simply a distorted result of the cloning. His all that is mad within the mind of an Overmind-Human hybrid. I personally enjoy his company."

Xehanort smirked a little. "That Overmind boy you brought here. His certainly produced some powerful results with these clones coming from him. With rapid cell growth acceleration up to a certain age, and changing which are dormant genes and what are not…the commander is sure to be impressed with what we've gained."

Cortex looked at the bald man, a little worried. "Not….really. You see, the only one who can even do what we want, that is, to control the Zerg, is subject 5. 7 hasn't gained any hints to that gift, and nor has 6. 1, 2, 3 and 4 showed the same results as 5, meaning we somehow lost it with the final two. It's the same with 5's ability to phase from matter to energy, and into liquid…7 and 6 cannot transform like that. It's like we gained the more humane sides towards the end of this."

The leader of Shadowlaw put his hands behind his back, thinking for a moment. "So you're saying that they also lost the abilities of a Dark Soul? The ability to change comes from that."

"Well, yes, kind of. You see, their blood still produces the dark soul cells in their bodies, and they have Zerg genes like the others, it's just, both are more dormant and disabled, then the 5 previous ones. Subject 5 is really the best result we've had, and most insane…"

Chaos had begun to not listen to them now. He was looking at Kei, as if ready to say something, but didn't, or couldn't , while looking at her, and in return, her looking at him.

This had been the third time he met this young scientist. There was something about her that was deadly familiar, as if he knew her from somewhere before. But long, long ago…it was in her eyes, it told him that he was meant to know those eyes, but his mind wouldn't allow him to remember. Kei was almost in the same boat, but unlike him, only had the sense of him being familiar, her mind was utterly baffled as to why he is familiar…

That's when the door again, slid open, and another two people entered. One was General Grievous, his metal face, and green cloak covering his body, glowing slightly in the monitor light, and with him…

was Keaton Al'Keriff, looking at them all, as Cortex quickly got off his seat, standing to attention, as was Kei Yuki. Xehanort and Chaos just watched him, as he entered the room.

He looked at each and every one of them, before saying in his stern voice. "Report. I want to know how subject 7 is doing. Now."

Cortex quickly got back in his seat, looking at the monitors and checking how the three fighting subjects were. Xehanort was seen smirking at Grievous, and spoke to him, in a mocking, greeting manner. "Machine. I see your still function as a device for others to use."

"Meatsack. I see your fleshy worthless body has yet to succumb to death." Grievous responded with, glaring at him. He was not happy with the idea of being allied with Xehanort and Shadowlaw, but the Galactic Federation, in it's current condition, needed all those that were willing to support it, at it's beck and call.

They were all upon the space station RE886, a military fortress of a station, in one of the least populated sectors of the now Shinra Federation, it was in orbit of the dangerous red planet called Devil II, a giant planet that was impossible to live on, and emitting a high level of sonic jamming, making it impossible for the Federation to tell if anyone is hiding around the planet or not. The fortress station was built to make sure no one does…ironic that know it's being used to hide something from the new Federation.

Keaton and Grievous managed to make it here from the battle of Unicron, and had since, been rallying the loyalists of the Galactic Federation, once he heard that bastard Rufus had taken not only his seat of power, but also done what he wanted to do, and disband the High Ministers…thus making himself Emperor.

Keaton knew he needed to gain support in order to rise up once more, and eventually found friends with Shadowlaw, and Chaos, who had brought him a present as well…an Overmind-Human hybrid called Richard Wily. Not only was this the grandson of Albert Wily, a promising bargaining chip with the old fool should he need to use it, but also something that can control the Zerg, which, with planning, he could easily use for meatsheilds for his troops.

Problem was, as Chaos noted to him right away, Richard won't agree with the likes of Keaton, and would rather kill him, especially since he was brought here by force. Chaos suggested that cloning him was the best bet, and knew that Xehanorts organization had some advanced cloning technology which was illegal across the Federation, available. Thanks to it, what should've taken years to even get off the ground, was in full flow by a months end, and the seven clones were produced. Four with brain damage and Zerg genes gone crazy on them, and three successful ones.

The last two brain damaged ones, had finally met their end.

Death, the fleshy skull being, had his head decapitated once he got a tad too close, his forever screeching silenced. Speed had been keeping on level with subject 7, Dark. Dark had been able to block every single dagger swing given by Speed, who couldn't lay a finger on his younger 'brother' as to put it. He begun whizzing around the arena, trying to get blows in at every direction, but was met by the vibrosword each and every time.

It was as Speed begun racing around the arena once again, Dark was getting tired of him, and begun charging up an energy shot with his pistol. Once fully charged, and shaking from beginning to go over the safety limit, and after blocking several dagger strikes from Speed, who once again, went off running, Dark threw his vibrosword into the air, aimed the pistol, and fired the charged shot at the sword, the gun shutting off right after, fried and useless now.

The energy shot flew and collided with the sword, as it's ultrasonic generator was still switched on, which he had aimed for, as the weapon was in the air. His aim was precise, as the energy blast hit the generator, causing an blue electric explosion that shattered the sword, the fragments flying all over the arena. One fragment came back towards it's owner, who just stood there, the fragment flying past his face, cutting just the upper left side of his nose slightly, and across that cheek, causing blood to leak out, his only wound in all this.

The other fragments, most of them simply hit the floor, some, got another target. Speed was hit by three of them, two small pieces embedded themselves into his right leg and hip, and one lodged itself right into his stomach, bursting the organs as it plunged in, making him scream in agony and stumble down to one knee, holding his stomach and trying to stop himself from shouting out anymore, his blood just oozing rapidly from the wounds.

But then he saw the shadow of a figure, and looked up, seeing Dark standing up, holding another fragment of the blade, looking down at his older brother…and stabbing it right into the top of the skull and mind of Speed, killing him. There was a moment of silence, before Speed toppled over, letting go of his daggers, joining the other three in the realm of death.

Dark looked at the body, then begun to head for the exit of the arena. Cortex quickly looked to Kei. "Miss Yuki, I suggest you go down and greet him, then get him a pair of boxers or something before bringing him up here to meet with Keaton."

Kei nodded, and departed from the room. Keaton watched her leave, before turning to the others. "The daughter of my once enemy…now an ally to our cause. She really believes I held her father in high regard…Now I take it the 7th subject is a complete success then with what you just said Cortex?"

"Oh it certainly killed the other 4 Commander Keaton. In that sense it's a success…but I need to tell you something before it arrives to see you."

He explained the issue with it's Zerg abilities, that it was, in a sense, a failure.

Keaton wasn't too impressed, but unlike when his normally annoyed, he seemed to think on the positive side to this. "But his certainly highly effective in combat…a perfect officer for my force then. Unlike number 6. 5 will have to do on the Zerg commanding business."

Cortex was kinda relieved he wasn't going to be scolded for somehow failing with Dark, hell, he only assisted with the creation of the last 2, the others he was the head of making. Xehanort and Kei were both working together on the last two.

Soon, Kei returned, and with her, was Dark. He was now wearing a black overall over his body. The wound on his face was slowly healing, but as Kei suggested to use a battlechip to quickly patch it up, he refused, demanding it remain to scar over, wanting it to remind him that he had slain his brothers to put them at rest. Kei introduced him to Keaton. "Commander Keaton Al'Keriff. This is Dark Rich." That was his given name by her. All of them at the surname 'Rich' after who they came from, as suggested by Kei.

Keaton put his hand out for the clone to shake, but he just stood there, looking right at Keaton with his uncovered eye. "…You know it's wise to shake hands with the man you'll be working with from now on." Keaton suggested to him.

Dark Rich spoke in a rough, uncaring manner, crossing his arms. "I'm only working with you because she is. As far as I'm concerned, you're just another being."

Now Keaton was angry. Cortex quickly had to diffuse the situation, as Kei was looking worried at what Keaton might do. "Sir, it is because he has a defunct gene of the Zerg active inside of him. When he was created, we accidentally triggered that gene and made it function once more. It's one that makes whoever the Zerg sees and gets in contact with, it's 'master' of sorts."

Cortex looked at Dark Rich, then Kei, who knew already what he was going on about. "You see, in the old Zerg, once genetic contact was made, by bare skin touching it, that Zerg would blindly obey and follow whatever it was told by that person or being. This gene is now active inside a fully sentient being, who just simply…favours the person who made contact with him first much more then anyone else."

Xehanort nodded. "That person was Kei Yuki. She had helped the clone leave his resting chamber once we woke him. Shes essentially his master, so as long as you have her, you have him."

Keaton looked to Kei, and she nodded as well, in agreement to this. "And you know I'll stand by you Keaton. For my father, I want to help the Galactic Federation."

Keaton calmed down, now understanding things a little better. "Alright then, as long as he does listen to you Kei…Clone, I expect great things from you."

"It's Dark Rich." the Clone responded, slightly angered. "Remember it."

Keaton just turned his nose up to him, then turned and looked at Chaos. "I suggest you wake subject 5 and let these two get to know each other a little better for a while before we begin our moves against the Shinra Federation."

Chaos nodded, and was about to leave, when, as he passed Keaton, Keaton spoke to him in a mumbled voice. "And I hope you have no plans in turning against me Chaos. I allowed you on my side for a reason…you helped inform me about Dark Megamans plans, and you were a powerful enemy to the people on Mobius."

Chaos readjusted his sunglasses slightly. "Don't worry, I have no plans like that in mind…so long as we prove useful to each other…" with that, he left.

Keaton then turned to the others, as the door closed behind. "Everyone, we're close to making our move. To bring back the Galactic Federation from the jaws of destruction. The upstart, Rufus Shinra, thinks to bury it…but I won't let him, we, won't let him. In the name of Armstrong Houston, your father Kei, Dante Yuki and the other fallen High Ministers, we will take back the Federation!"

Cortex, Kei and Grievous gave him a proud salute, as he saluted them. Xehanort simply smiled at Keaton, and Dark Rich kept his arms where they were, watching Keaton carefully…

The Galactic Federation was a dying beast alright…and now it was trapped in a corner, by the Shinra Federation…and they say a cornered mouse can easily kill the cat…


	20. Leading to civil war

It had been two hours since Chads encounter with the Zerg beings on Earth X.

He had managed to call in Darkmega and Wily, despite the fact it was 11 in the evening. They had met in the labs of the Zebes Hero Base, the spot Wily had left an hour ago to go and read a novel his got before packing off to sleep. Darkmega was busy with Medi, in the bar, as she was suggesting to him, really badly, to come to her room, which he did consider, but the call distracted him.

Chad asked him about Chaos, saying about the whole two year incident that Chaos put him through with that unknown white vortex. Darkmega seemed to stand there, thinking for a moment. "Yeah, I know Chaos alright, he helped us get my empire on the go, smug bastard was getting big for his boots at one point, and I had the plan to kill him off. Of course THAT never happened thanks to me thinking about it just before me and Richard came to Zebes to kill you…and we know how that ended."

"Did he know anything about Unicron?" Chad asked.

"No…No he didn't. I never said to about it anyway. But his clever Chad. He knew what me and Richard were up to when we first tried taking over the base 2 years ago. His got informants somewhere."

Chad leaned his arms and back against one of the labs tables, talking to himself for a moment. "If, he knew of Unicron by some kind of informant like he did with you, then why didn't he help him…it's not like Chaos to keep low when something I get included in comes along…his a genius, got a lot of brains and likes tormenting me. It would've helped Unicron greatly, maybe changed everything to his favour."

Wily was sitting at one of the chairs, leaning on his skull walking stick, watching Chad. "Why did you even ask me here? If it's about the creatures on Earth X, you should've left a message for the morning."

Chad looked at the old scientist, and shook his head. "It's not just about them. They were Zerg, and I managed to drive them away from the border…the problem is they informed me about something…Chaos has pretty much kidnapped Richard, who was their leader….least I think that's what it means to be an Overmind."

Dr Wily went silent, looking at Chad with…an expression Chad didn't expect. He was expecting, well, shock, worry, concern…instead it was just a look of mild interest. "An Overmind is a leader of a brood. The Zerg mind has evolved into a psychic controlled sort, it requires someone to command it, a leader. Often Zerg that lose contact with their Overmind go insane from gaining no information. I'm surprised those Zerg weren't insane when you met them." He seemed to look away from Chad, thinking about something by the looks of it, as he continued. "Then again that was the old reports, when the original Zerg were still around and some were dissected… perhaps evolution has allowed them to have a greater chance at survival now."

"…Wily, I'm not sure you heard the part before. Richard has been kidnapped, by my enemy Chaos. Your grandson, Richard?"

Wily nodded to show he knew. "No doubt if he is an Overmind now, Chaos will want to try and use him to control the Zerg."

Chad just looked at him like he was a little out of his mind. "Wily, what the hell is wrong with you? This is your grandson I'm talking about here! Express a little worry at least alright?!"

Dr Wily looked at Chad, and knew he was being a little heartless about the matter, even though he had his reason for doing so. "…You're right. I'm sorry. It's just after 2 years I've given up on him. Being tainted by darkness for that long, I doubt he'll ever come back to us. I've just concluded it."

"I haven't. I'm going to get him back on our side Wily. His a friend of mine, of Rolls, Shademans and others. I just need to know where Chaos might be. What would he do right now, in the midst of what's going on? Would he hand Richard over to Rufus? His the main guy I got an issue with after Unicron."

Wily shook his head. "I, very much doubt Rufus would want the Zerg on his side…knowing things as they are, and what Rufus has asked me and Light to do for the past week…"

Chad raised an eyebrow at this, as Darkmega looked at Wily with curiosity and decided to be the one to point out what they both were wondering. "Asked you to do?"

Dr Wily looked at them both for a moment, then got up, and headed to the main lab computer. He typed something onto it, and then, the monitor changed from a blank green screen to, a map, of the Shinra Federation, and hundreds of yellow, black, red and blue lines going to worlds, space stations, communication satellites and arrays. Each one, in the middle of the lines, had 'SF', 'GF' or 'UC'.

"We've been granted access to almost every network of the Shinra Federation, included those that aren't in use anymore. Rufus has been concerned that the Galactic Federation loyalists DO have an actual leader behind all their rise up, and wants us to be his eyes and ears on the communications front, as we can keep a low profile with monitoring thanks to our more finely tuned network technology. We've noticed that networks which have been disused for over 10 years have come back online suddenly, and with what we've managed to collect data wise, their controlled by the loyalists."

Darkmega walked over towards the machine, looking at Wily. "So what does that mean then?"

"It means that, given the coordination that's been going into the attempted, secret power up of these networks, and the data that goes between them of locations of warships and military, the loyalists are branded together. It's not just separate groups, by what we've gathered, they certainly have a leader."

"Any idea who?" Chad asked, walking up to where Wily was.

"…I'm betting on Grievous. General Grievous. He was pretty much the lapdog of Keaton when Darkmega started trouble. That, and his name has been thrown around on the communication and network channels belonging to the GF. Even got a few of him actually talking coming from…this location."

Space station RE886 was zoomed into, orbiting over Devil II, marked as 'Uninhabitable.', it showed five different lines coming from the station, all marked as 'GF' and yellow.

"Rufus already knows about the connections leading to here. But is waiting for the right moment to strike. All he wants me and Light to do for him is to keep tabs on the enemies communications so he can get a grasp of the bigger picture. It's all between us for now. He doesn't want to get the public concerned about the possible threat that could be coming from the loyalists, at least, not yet."

Darkmega looked at the screen carefully. "So…if Grievous is in charge, then Chaos might go to him…Would he do that, Chad?"

Chad nodded. "If Grievous is looking for powerful allies, yes. Chaos would stand by him in all this, if not just for the sake of possible chaos in the Federation…or his working secretly with Rufus. He might work for Rufus and-"

The old man, Wily, just sighed in frustration. "Chad, drop it with your petty issues with Rufus. His rough on the edges I know, but then again so am I. In the end his far better then Keaton, I'll say that much. At least Rufus is trying to gain proper control over this trashed Federation territory instead delegating it to underlings."

Chad went silent for a moment. "…Look it's just he gives me a bad feeling. You don't. You're just, well, you. You're the smarter guy, in my opinion, out of you and Light, that glue this place together. That, and you were fine when Anna forgot to inform you and Light that I was coming to stay."

"Well push that bad feeling aside Chad. Give him a chance. Now.." he begun typing on the computer. "I'm going to check the backlog of detected talks and data files that have been sent between stations and planets that the loyalists are on to see if Chaos has been mentioned or Richard Wily."

Soon, lines upon lines of words, conversations and data files, flew up the screen, flowing by, the computer scanning for any connections to the words 'Chaos' and 'Richard Wily'. eventually several popped up. The first few, once the screen stopped and showed them, was messages sent from the space station to several locations, about their new ally that was apparently a mobian called Chaos. Chad confirmed that was a match alright, much to his anger. And it was certainly between GF loyalists, meaning he was on their side.

Other logs confirmed Richard Wily was indeed in the hands of the GF, and by the looks of it, on the same Space Station as General Grievous.

Then there was the dates of the communications, the first was about a good two months ago. The rest were over time, mostly saying about experiments being preformed, gene experiments, which caught Wily's attention. After looking across both the logs and messages, it led to the fact that Richard and Chaos, had to be on the Space Station RE886.

Chad knew the solution to this little problem. "Right, I'm going there. Wily, can you teleport me in?"

Dr Wily looked at Chad like he was either a moron or just plain suicidal. "What? And ask nicely that they hand Richard over and let you fight Chaos? Chad, by the looks of it, it could well be the central point of the Galactic Federation. I doubt you alone would stand much of a chance with all the possible guards and machines that'll be present!"

"So what? We just, wait for something to happen?"

Albert nodded. "Chad, we're watching them very closely. Sooner or later something will move them. An attack from Shinra, perhaps moving their forces around, but there will be an opening that will include alot less defence on that station then there's bound to be right now. I don't want you to go on any suicide missions. That's final."

Chad was none too pleased with this, but knew that Wily was right. he decided to leave the doc be, and left the labs. Darkmega watched him go, then looked at Wily for a moment. "…Hey Doc, listen, I wanna talk to you about something…about Richard Wily. I didn't wanna say it in front of Chad, cos, I know he wouldn't take the news well but, Richard ain't Richard…his a-"

Wily sat back in the lab chair, holding his walking stick close, relaxed. "-A Dark Soul copy. yes, I already know he is. I made him, afterall." Darkmega was surprised at this, as Wily just looked to the lab computers screen before continuing.

" 4 years ago it was. Richard was stressed, depressed and unable, more precise, unwilling to do anything I wanted. I decided after listening to some close friends of mine, to replace the boy with a precise, cold, efficient copy. Granted the new edition didn't listen to me that much, but he now had ambition, a drive. He bothered with computering, robotics, and how the Wily family works."

"…And, And your just telling me all this?"

"Of Course. You're another Dark Soul. more calmed now, but your still the same design inside. You knew the moment you came to the base. It needs only to stay between us. Chad doesn't need to know. The boy is friends with the Chaos one, not the original. it won't change his opinion on the matter."

Darkmega did have a question though, that's been in his head for a little while. "…What happened to Richard? THE Richard?"

"Oh him? We put him away somewhere. It's isolated and secure. I didn't want the Dark self to know where he was. Are we done with the questions now?"

That was an obvious hint to the fact Wily didn't want to continue this line of conversation. Darkmega nodded, told him that he'll get going, and left Wily in the labs.

That's when as he entered the Main Room of the base, he heard Chad say in a rather furious tone. "He doesn't think I deserve to be your first!?"

Chad, when he left the labs, had found Anna in the main room waiting for room, looking a little worried about something. When he asked, she said about the fact she had words with Zhang He after what happened when Chad tried to meet her in her room, and he told her how he felt about Chad's attempts at getting it on.

Zhang He simply felt Chad has not good enough for Anna, and thus not qualified to take her virginity.

"Chad, I've been trying to explain to him it's my choice about who I want to give it away to, but his firm on the fact he feels your not the right type for me."

"Not the right type!? Fuck him! We can bypass him! We can do it in my room!"

Anna shook her head. "He would simply follow me and stop me from going in, or walk in as well."

"Well what about in the hologram rooms, or even in one of storage rooms!"

"No Chad, I want our first time together to be…special. in the bedroom, special kind've way."

Chad crossed his arms in annoyance. "Well it ain't gonna happen unless we figure out a way to get past him now, is it? Look, why don't you NOT tell him that your going to my room? Tonight. Just, ditch him. Get to my room, and I'll lock the door to stop him getting in. 8 o'clock sharp, alright?"

Anna thought about this for a moment, then nodded, deciding to give it a go. she spotted Darkmega, who chose to just leave them to it and head off to Ridley's bar, and called out. "Darkmega! Medi wants to see you by the way. In the Hospital room."

The Dark Navi nodded to respond that he heard, and changed direction, heading to the Hospital.

Inside, Medi was seen cleaning one of the medical beds, making sure it was disinfected. Darkmega gave a small cough to notify her that he was here. She stopped cleaning, and looked over to him, smiling. "Oh. Hey handsome, I was wondering when Anna would get my message to you."

Darkmega walked over towards Medi. "Well Chad and me were just a little busy with Wily at the labs. So, what's up girl?"

Medi smiled at him in a very very sexual way, as she turned towards him, and stepped closer to him. "Well, I've been thinking alot about you again…I really want you to come and see me tonight." One of her hands went towards Darkmega's lower region and her fingers gently touched it. "This time, I really don't think I can take no for an answer.."

Just her touching that area sent sparks over his body. She knew where to place those fingers. "Listen, Medi, I'm just not sure still…"

She leaned close to him, whispering into his ear. "But I can't wait forever my love. Don't you want to experience the fun we could have? The pleasures you've yet to experience?"

Darkmega sighed in delight. Just her being close to him was making him feel good. "A-alright Medi. I'll be there…what time?"

She pressed her hand on his groin now, groping it, massaging it gently through the fabric of the Navi clothing. "10 tonight. once I've closed down the hospital…don't be late."

He could feel himself 'rising' to the occasion now. "Y-yeah sure Medi. I'll be there."

* * *

Chad was waiting patiently in Ridley's bar. He was at the actual bar itself, with Roll and Shademan to his left, and to his right, Darkmega, Quickman and Pang De, an Officer of Wei, who stood out in the ranks of that army by the fact he wore a knight's kind've helmet, which he got during one of the GF's trade runs, and the fact he always, ALWAYS had his two large pole axe weapons on his back, ready for use. Its even said when he goes to bed their next to him in the bed…Cao Cao thinks it's the fact they cost a lot and his afraid some bastard might take'em.

Chad was trying his best to think about the night ahead, hoping nothing will go wrong this time. In a few hours, Anna and him will be making sweet, sweet love. that's all he was trying to think about, looking at the clock above Ridley's Bar, saying it was 6 o'clock now. Next to him though, was the current annoyance, Darkmega, who was worried about his own night ahead. "Oh man Chad, oh man. She means it this time, I mean, she really wants it tonight. Should I just tell her I'm worried because I haven't done it before? Should I just suck it up and let her have her way?"

"Please just goddamn let her…" Chad mumbled quietly, taking a sip from his small glass of Dr Pepper as Darkmega continued.

"Chad, ya gotta tell me how to handle this. I mean, do I tell her how much I like her before it? Perhaps I should just stay quiet throughout it?"

Chad just sighed in annoyance, before looking towards the Dark Navi. "Darkmega, you'll just…know, alright? Medi will show you and you'll get it. You know the basics right?"

Darkmega, over the two months, had not only taken the time to know some of the basics, but he was also egged by Medi for an upgrade before she 'sees the results'…apparently Roll's word about Megaman's tool reached Medi's ears easy enough. Wily didn't mind helping him out about it, and was heard laughing prior to the completion of the upgrade, most likely over the fact of what Dr Light gave Megaman in the first place.

"Well yeah, I know what goes where and what pill to take beforehand, but I mean, I don't how to handle this emotionally."

Ridley was overhearing the conversation, having been close by, putting the dirty glasses into a cleaning machine underneath the bar, and inputted his opinion. "Just close your eyes, count to ten and start moving your hips. Then you'll know how to feel….that's what I did on my first time with a girl on my homeworld. Mounted her, counted and started to rock."

Darkmega looked at him. "Does…it feel good?"

Ridley thought about this for a moment. "Wellll her species and mine weren't meant to breed, kinda was frowned upon on my world….kinda really tight and painful the first time too. Hurts your dick like putting it in molten lava, which really stings and burns like a bitch." Darkmega looked a little horrified. "Relax. You and Medi are Navis. Should go great for you guys. Might be a little painful for you but hey, the second and third time for her and me, it got better. So for you and Medi, should be fantastic."

Chad was more curious on the whole notion of 'Dick in molten lava.'. "…Ridley, about what you said about your first time…Dick in Molte-"

"I did it once. Exposed it while taking a dive in Norfair. It was stupid but I just wanted to see what would happen. Young and naïve back then, and Mother Brain wasn't impressed when I had to recover and leave the others to try and stop Samus from blowing up one of our stations."

Ridley then simply went back to cleaning cups, when Chad was staring for a moment, shook his head to get himself to focus again, then looks at Darkmega. "In the end his right. It'll go fine Darkmega. Chill. You got the basics, don't close your eyes and count, just….enjoy the view. Medi is pretty damn hot, in all the right places."

"Is she?"

"What? Just with the clothes on that didn't give you the hint? Granted her dress hides the booty but the upper front is visible enough."

Darkmega looked at him carefully. "Have you…seen her before? Without clothes?"

"Oh yeah. Once. Me and Anna walked in on her in the hospital. She's damn fine guy. Damn fine."

Well at least Chad is honest, Darkmega had to give him that. "Well, I'll see tonight won't I…just gotta go with it…"

"You won't regret it Darkmega. Like I won't when me and Anna get it on."

* * *

An hour and a half passed on by, and Chad had left the bar to his room. Light on, sitting at the chair near the computer in his room, waiting for Anna to open the door. He came half an hour early, incase she came early. Now time just begun to dribble. Minutes were slowly passing to that big 8. Twenty minutes remained, then 10...5.…4.…3.…2.…1.

He waited.

No knock on the door yet. that's fine, always give ten minutes at least, no one ever comes on time perfectly.

Eventually he heard knocking on his door at 15 minutes past 8. He pretty much jumped out of his chair to answer it, rushing over and opening the door, flashes of ideas of what's going to happen tonight going delightfully through his mind.

Who stood there was not someone he wanted to see tonight, well, ONE of the two that stood there looking at him anyway.

There was Anna, he girl he was expecting tonight to be his first with and vice versa back with her.

And there was Zhang He.

Chad was NOT a happy bunny about this, looking at Anna, very, very slightly in an agitated way. Anna blew it. She actually had forgotten about Zhang He being not allowed round untill he told him that she was going to stay with Chad for the night…yeah Zhang He demanded he had to come with her, and she couldn't say no.

Chad went quiet for a few moments, before saying. "Hey Anna….Zhang He."

Anna smiled weakly at him. "Hey Chad. Listen, umm, there's a, change of our evening plans. Zhang He is going to join us in the sleepover. His going to go in a moment to get him and me two sleeping bags, so we don't have to rest in your bed and interfere with your sleep."

'Yeah. More like because he doesn't want you touching a certain someone, eh Chad?' Chad's conscious spoke in his head.

Chad sighed, and nodded. Well, there goes that for them tonight…

Once Zhang He got them sleeping bags, they all sat down together on the bed, trying to make conversation between them. Chad stayed out of it mostly, either just going "mm." or "Yeah.", A LOT of the latter. He was also giving death glares to Zhang He, mouthing, at moments when Zhang He looked away from him, 'Cock-Blocker.'

Chad cursed his luck. It seemed to turn good when he had to do other things, but when it came to Anna, the lady didn't seem to favour him as much. Now, whereas Chad was unlucky in all this, Darkmega, on the other hand…

* * *

**Mature mode bitches.**

* * *

Darkmega was just outside Medi's door, shaking a little. It was 9:55 now. He had taken the male's version of the pill an hour ago, and at this moment, he was shaking in his shoes after he had lightly knocked on the door.

He heard Medi inside. "Come in, Darkmega…"

He gulped, sweating a little, and opened the door, stepping into her room.

Inside, her room was mostly like any other, a simply bed, a computer, a few wardrobes, a bathroom and a few bedside drawers. But there were differences. Once was the lightning. Medi was allowed by the docs to install purple lights on the ceiling, giving the room a violet glow, and her bed cover and pillow covers, black, unlike the common grey given out. She was nowhere in sight in the bedroom, meaning she was in the bathroom at the moment, as he got in, and gently closed the door behind him.

"M-Medi?"

Her voice did indeed, come from the bathroom, in a sexual, luring tone. "Get yourself comfy baby. I'll be out in a moment, just, getting myself fully ready."

Darkmega slowly stepped over to the bottom end of the bed, and sat down, feeling anxious still. He slowly took his helmet off, showing his dark blue spiked back hair, and placed it on the floor nearby….was that comfy enough for him? He wasn't sure. Did she want him to remove more then that?

He took decided to take off his boots and gloves, placing them all near the helmet, leaving his main Navi suit on, the body leather, which covered from his neck, to his wrists, and to the start of his ankles, leaving now, his feet and hands bare.

Darkmega tried to calm himself, but not only was he worried about Medi right now…he was worried about himself…the upgrade that Wily done for him. He asked Wily to just give it a 'normal' size instead of what Megaman had, was it going to be fine for Medi? Was she used to bigger? Perhaps expected him to make himself better then just an average?

Wily told him the average humanoid one is about 5-6 inches. According to the doc, his was now in-between those, once fully erect, at 5.5. Boy, was that day the most embarrassing day his yet experienced in this place, hearing Wily talk about the private area and upgrading it, what Navis sometime have to endure…

He tried to push his mind off it, whistling a little, fiddling with his thumbs, just, trying to think about something else…and Medi had the answer for that, when the bathroom door finally opened, and she walked out, Darkmega quickly looking her way and about to greet her…he just stared.

She walked out with silky, bare shoulder and arms, pitch black, and most certainly see through, nightdress on, with it shimmering in the violet glow of the lights. The dress, which opened at the front, and flowed down to her knees, was lined with light purple string, which some of it was tied right inbetween the front opening, at her breasts, holding the night dress slightly closed.

No bra was on, her milky white breasts bouncing a little with each step she took, her pink nipples showing through the fabric of the clothing as she moved, and her hair was flowing freely. She was wearing a very fine, very thin, black g-string, completely see through, showing off her finely shaven purple pubic hair. Her feet were bare, as she slowly stepped over to the jaw-dropped Darkmega, her red loving eyes focused on him. "Do you like what you see, Darkmega?"

He just, was stunned…and felt his upgraded partner rising fast, showing itself through the fabric of his Navi gear, looking like it was straining against it.

Medi slowly leaned down, so he could perfectly see down the dress, at her bosom cleavage, smiling at him, as his cheeks went red.

"Why don't you remove the suit? You'll feel a lot more relaxed that way…and…" she momentarily looked down at his erection, before looking at his face again. "…I'll handle that, when your gear is out of the way."

Darkmega didn't have to think it over. His programming, like all beings with sexual needs and instincts, once it reaches a certain point, does things by itself. He gently grabbed his Navi crest, disabling it by turning it slightly, then removing it, tossing it aside, then touched the top of his Navi suit, at the neck point, and a zip appeared, all the way down to his crotch, which he WAS, about to unzip, but Medi grabbed his hand before he could do so, tutting a little, before taking over, moving his hand away with one of her own, then using the other hand to grab the zip, and slowly move it downwards, revealing his pale skin body little by little.

Darkmega just stared, his anxious side showing itself, as Medi reached the bottom of the suit, right where her prize waited…and once passed that point, his dick popped out from the unzipped clothing, twitching, eager, around it, a small amount of deep blue pubic hair…Medi finished with the zip, and stood up, stepping back a little, and motioning Darkmega to stand. He did so, and got his arms out of his suit while he was at it, revealing his whole upper half, then took his legs out, revealing everything, leaving his suit on the floor, shaking slightly.

Medi looked him up and down. " Your just what I expected Darkmega…and your upgrade…well…" she stepped closer to him, and then, bent down to her knees, making him wonder what she was going to do.

She gently held his dick in one hand, and stroked it, ever so slowly, looking up at him. "You did take the time to read up on the data about Oral Sex, right?"

Darkmega shook his head. He learnt about the very, very basic…but boy, if just stroking his cock was Oral, then it was already something he wants to learn more about. Her smooth hand was sending wonderful signals up and down his body. Then…a massive load of those lovely signals catapulted around his mind, as he saw Medi smile mischievously, before looking at his member, moving the foreskin back slightly, and placing the tip in her mouth, sucking it, placing her tongue on and around it.

He was in the Farplanes now. He felt just, bliss, standing there, more and more of it, as Medi slowly took in more of his dick into her mouth, bobbing her head back and forth at an eased pace at first, as if enjoying the taste of it, before speeding up and a little, using that tongue vigorously on it as she went.

He looked down, noticing now, that she had mostly taken all of him in, deep throating with it, as he could feel it slide down her mouth, into her neck. She was a pro, and he knew if she kept this up, he wouldn't last, feeling a sensation build up slowly but surely in his member. "M-Medi! Your, your gonna make me…"

She suddenly stopped, pulling his cock out of her mouth, leaving it covered in her saliva. He gave her a saddened, pining look. He didn't want that to end, but as she stood up, she reassured him, giving him a loving, horny look. "Don't be sad Darkmega…that was just the start. Now we'll go onto what you DO know about…"

She put her hands on the string that was holding that nightdress together around her breasts, and pulled on them, undoing the little bowtie knot she had made with it, and allowing her breasts to show themselves fully, as the dress opened up, moving off them. She took the dress off, dropping to the floor, then, she stepped forward, while placing a hand on Darkmega's chest, and pushing him back, making him fall back on the bed.

Darkmega found himself on his back for a moment, looking at the ceiling. He sat himself up, looking towards Medi, when he found his eyesight hindered, by the sudden landing of her G-string on his face. He quickly removed it, and there she was, fully naked, slowly getting on the bed before him, moving up to him, and once making him lay back once more, looking upwards, as she mounted him.

There she was, looking down at him, her pussy, wet, just over his member, as she playfully giggled a little, noticing him getting tense, waiting for it to happen…and slowly, she slid herself down on him, his cock finally experiencing the inside of Medi…and boy did it send him straight back to where he was earlier, total bliss, letting Medi have control at first, as she grinded herself on him a little, before bouncing up and down at a slow and steady pace. She had sat herself up while doing so, holding and caressing her own breasts, playing with them before him, moaning in pleasure, as she felt his member rub around inside.

Eventually, she felt his hands go on her legs, holding them, as she continued to move herself, and felt him, following her rhythm, to her enjoyment, thrusting into her as she moved up, then she pressed down on him, to get it all the way in as much as possible. Their pace remained steady, as Medi didn't want to go mad on the poor guy. This was all new to him afterall…still…

She felt that build up again, that hint, that continuous twitching from Darkmega's cock signalling he was getting closer, as he was beginning to pant and moan, and finally said "Medi, it's, it's…"

She simply fell forward on him, putting her hands to the side of where he was now, allowing her breasts to bounce freely, letting him take over, as he moved his hands off her legs, and wrapped his arms around her torso, holding her close, as natural instinct took command, and he thrusted like crazy into her.

As he did, he looked at her, as if pleading, to know if he could…she gave him a sexual smile, as her cheeks were going red, the pleasure she felt was reaching a high from this. "It's okay. We both had the pill right? Just do it inside…"

He did. His back arched, as he fired his load deep into her, three or so spurts of cum flowing inside. Medi loved it. She hadn't had sex for a long time since she came to this base, but damn, it felt good to do it again after so long…she didn't have an orgasm herself, but she knew Darkmega would be able to help her achieve one with time and patience…this was one guy she wasn't planning of letting go of.

Darkmega was done. He let go of Medi after a moment, panting, trying to recover from his first experience at sex…Medi slowly got off of him and laid next to him. "Heh, enjoy that first encounter, losing your virginity, lover boy?"

Darkmega nodded in the midst of panting. "Oh, oh god yes Medi…that was just…fantastic.."

* * *

**Mature mode end, bitches.**

* * *

It was about 2am now.

In the main room of the base, was Chad, sitting there, tired and dozing off slowly, with a spare grey cover over himself, while sitting in one of the chairs, with a pillow behind his head.

He got sick and tired trying to sleep in his room. Zhang He kept having an eye on him, having one open, as the minutes passed by, and Chad just folded in the towel, giving up his bedroom to that cock-block and Anna.

Alright he had to admit it, it was his own fault Zhang He had gone onto full alert with him. When they all settled down to sleep, Chad had waited untill Zhang He was asleep, and got close to Anna, whispering to her to get into the bed with him, telling her naughty ideas on how quick her clothes will come off, and eventually Anna caved in.

Despite her fear of Zhang He finding out, she got into Chad's bed, and since it was their first time in bed together, Anna had the giggles. The way Chad was cuddling her, telling her dirty ideas he had, it made her go all funny, whispering to Chad to stop it and be a good boy.

Sadly, her giggles woke Zhang He, and he shouted out to Anna to get back into her sleeping bag, which she did so at a very fast rate, leaving Chad annoyed again, and Zhang He having the eye open on him the whole time from there on till he left.

Chad now was simply trying to keep his eyes shut, to get some sort of rest before the normal 7am wake up round, when a lot of the base members started to get moving. It was hard though, with the sounds of the computers humming and the odd late night person walking into the main room, like Xiahou Dun had done about 12 minutes ago, after a long session in the hologram rooms for his training.

Now Chad could hear the sounds of more footsteps, someone else was about to enter this room.

He simply closed his eyes, hoping to Blind 10 that the person would just notice him and quickly leave him alone and go to their own bedroom, where they had their goddamn comfortable bed to sleep in. instead, he heard them walk up to where he was, and sit down next to him. It was Shadow, as Chad recognized the voice as he spoke. "Is there a problem with your room Chad? Infestation or something?"

Chad opened his eyes, looking at the Black Hedgehog and sighing a little. "Nah, just the cock-blocker decided to ruin my sweet chance tonight with Anna."

Shadow looked at him, a little confused. "Cock-Blocker?"

"Zhang He. Her bodyguard."

"Oh."

"His been annoying as hell lately. I'm trying to get funky with Anna, ya know, as in hit that, go all the way, ya know, bang her, but he either follows her every-fucking-where, or stays outside her door, never giving us a chance of any long alone time now. He thinks I'm not the right sort to be her first."

Shadow shrugged. "So? If he blocks you from her room, Chaos Control."

Chad looked surprised at him. "…Excuse me?"

"Chaos Control Chad. You have the ability. Simply use it to pass him and lock the door once your inside. He won't get in, and it leaves you and Anna to…hit that, as you put it."

Chad felt stupid. Of COURSE Chaos Control! It's just what his got to handle that annoying cock-block of a bodyguard! It's brilliant! "Kick ass. I gotta use it the next time I get a chance. Thanks Shadow."

Shadow crossed his arms, looking away. "You should've figured that out by yourself."

Chad sighed, knowing Shadow would say something like that. Then paused for a moment. "…So what are you doing up so late anyway Shadow?"

Shadow shrugged a little. "Can't sleep. Kept hearing this annoying scraping sound in my bedroom wall. I'm going to inform Dr Light and Wily when the morning comes."

"So….your just going to sit here?"

"That's the plan."

Chad looked around for a moment, knowing sleeping here with Shadow wasn't going to happen, and with Shadow being around here, he wasn't going to easily doze off on any of the other chairs. "…Wanna go and have a race in one of the hologram rooms?"

"Sure, why not."

* * *

"What do you mean you're not going to use my elite army of rocket strapped mutated penguins? What's wrong with them?"

The voice was of Dr Neo Cortex, onboard the Space Fortress RE886. He was within a meeting room, sitting at a massive, round metal table. With him in the room, sitting there as well, was Kei Yuki, Dark Rich, Flame Stag and Vile, both had returned to Grievous after the Zebes incident with Darkmega way back, Xehanort, Grievous, Chaos and Keaton…along with seven others.

With them in this meeting was four keybladers. The keybladers were the defence force, of Mickey's worlds, protecting them from most outside threats and keeping order. With Mickey's surrender to Rufus, that's changed. The keybladers refuse to bow down and submit to Rufus's new reign, choosing to come and side with the GF.

The leader of the Keybladers throughout Mickey's domain, was Master Eraqus, 45 years old and has held this top rank for at least 20 of those years. The three keybladers that were with him were representatives, all with different ranks, chosen by Eraqus to follow him here.

The female of the three, 24 years of age, was Aqua. Holding the highest rank of the three, which was Keyblade Master. It meant that she was a commander of their forces on the battlefield if the need arises.

The lad of 22 years of age was Terra, holding the rank of Keyblade Warrior. It meant that he was a one man army, and was often sent to handle small groups of foes to dispatch of them quickly and efficiently without the risk of losing the more inexperienced ones.

And the last one, being no older then 17, was Ventus, who held the rank of Keyblade Officer. A front line commander who is to lead a small group, sometimes large group, of Keyblade fighters into the fight.

The 5th other person in this meeting, was a man in his 80's. A veteran officer from Earth V, who chose instead of going to the Hero Base, to follow the Galactic Federation, and still is now, choosing it over Rufus. His name was Huang Zhong, a once member of the kingdom of Shu and Jing, the ruler being a relative to Liu Bei, Liu Biao, and a legend with his bow.

The 6th was machine being, known as Storm Eagle. A once member of 666, by the gold dog tags on him. He came to the call of Grievous once he found out the location of where he was. He once joined the rebellion of Sigma back on Earth XI years ago, like Flame Stag and Vile, once the 666 unit fell apart, but after the rebellion died off, he found his calling back with the Galactic Federation.

The 7th and final person here, was subject 5 of the cloning experiment. Dark Rich was subject 7, the last one they made. Subject 5, named Unholy Rich, was the one that's been, more or less, considered the most successful one for what they wanted. He had medium black hair, and his eyes, they looked inhuman with the pupils, looking more demonic then man, and his iris's were a red colour, that, in certain light, seemed to glow orange.

Unlike Dark Rich at this moment, who still wore the black overalls, Unholy was granted proper clothing to make him stand out. A white top, with a grey suit and trousers, leather boots, white gloves, with the number '5' stitched on the top of both, and a full-length, red trench coat.

The weapon he carried with him, unlike his 'brother', Dark Rich, who was given a new vibrosword and GF pistol, was an energy trident. It's a expansive spear weapon, which when closed up, can fit in his pocket. When triggered to expand out fully, the staff segment is about 5 foot, and when a hidden, red button is pressed on the staff, the energy segment is activated, forming a green trident on top, which is a foot in height more, making the weapon the length of a man.

Around the room, on it's simple steel walls, was the flags of the GF, hanging proudly, the place only having one exit, the location of this room was on the tenth floor of this station. In the middle of the table they all were at, was a small, glass dome, no more then as big as a hand, and glowing green, emitting from it, was a hologram of the GF/SF territory, with all the planets named, the locations of bases and space stations, the hologram was floating slightly above the table.

Keaton sighed, rubbing his forehead a little. "Cortex. You've already branded them as a failure. They can't go far without suddenly triggering their rockets and committing suicide. We don't need an army of suicide beings in our ranks during battle."

Neo tried another idea. "What about my bug bears? You know, the mutation between a Floartian bug and a Whalison bea-"

"Cortex, you ALSO branded them as total failures. They don't listen to orders and they suffer major cardiac arrests within 30 seconds of being unfrozen."

Kei looked at Cortex. "Cortex. Maybe we should leave your other creations out. I'm sorry to sound mean, but they haven't been at all as successful as the cloning. Even you admitted it. You said about it all being downhill ever since you experimented on a Bandicoot right? You tested on him, he got loose, and destroyed your personal space station, along with all those projects you once had-"

Cortex looked away from her, being grumpy at the reminder of THAT incident. "I do not wish to remember that, miss Yuki."

Xehanort chuckled. "It's not like we need any additional forces at the moment. According to the reports that we've gathered, including the numbers we have on each world loyal to our unity here, we have more then enough to arrange several tactical strikes on major worlds under the Shinra Federation."

Eraqus was looking at the hologram map carefully. "Although you are correct, Xehanort, currently our forces are divided all over the Federation territory. We Keybladers can assist several of them from our worlds, but the battles will be costly, and devastating."

Grievous now spoke up, looking to Keaton. "Grand Commander. Permission to order many of our small forces on the worlds to transfer themselves to locations I believe, we can use? If we put out forces together on adjusted worlds to planets like Gaia VII, Earth X and Delta II, we can easily arrange the strikes, and with our numbers higher and effective coordinated movements, then what they would be if all of our men were to remain separated-"

Chaos interrupted him. "Keaton. You want to use the element of surprise, right? If there was a rush of movement across the territory of the SF before an attack, they would no doubt easily figure us out and prepare their main worlds for assault. Although your forces are small when divided, they have the advantage of surprise. I propose, within a few days, a sudden rush movement, once you and the others are prepared to attack.

"By telling them all to rise up simultaneously, the SF will be hard pressed to keep them all down, each of their worlds under attack, while you lead your main force to, say, Gaia VII, and take Rufus's head, as well as his title."

Xehanort, much to the surprise of Grievous, opposed this. Grievous was expecting the old meat bag to accept the idea and reinforce it just to get one up against him. "The idea sounds good, but at the moment, heavily flawed compared to Grievous' plan. If some of you don't know, We've detected that someone is monitoring our movement and such already. They already know of our locations. Storm Eagle had been using the stations computers and found this out. Storm?"

Storm Eagle nodded, and stood up, getting out a small data device, and pressing a button on it. After a moment, the hologram zoomed in on one planet, with the name 'Zebes.'

The machine being then explained. "Yesterday at 5:50pm, after activating a scan of our systems, I detected a spy program. Deciding to instead just destroy it, I tracked the source of where it was coming from. It's presumably from this planet. Owned by the Shinra Federation, it only has one major location which is currently occupied, by a group known as…"

Keaton finished it. "Hero Faction…Albert and Thomas…so they've chosen to do some of Rufus's work, have they? Hmm.."

Huang Zhong looked at him, then, at the hologram map. "Hero Faction? Isn't that where most of the warriors of my world fled to? Hah, it would be good to see them again…and make them learn what happens when you don't join the right side."

Chaos folded his arms, leaning back a little on his chair. "Well the Hero Faction, that's easy to sort out. We can keep to my plan and have it ready within the few days as I said. Tomorrow, just get in contact with the good doctors Keaton. Remind them of how, friendly you was to them, how you did at times, let them do what they wanted. Ask them if Rufus would allow them the same? And if that fails….remind them that we have Albert's grandson as hostage. If they don't join us, give us the information on the Shinra forces numbers and locations, which their bound to be able to gain if they can watch us, and break their ties with the Shinra…we'll kill him."

This won Keaton over. "Chaos, I like the way you think. Very well we'll go by what you suggested."

Grievous was infuriated by this. "Grand Commander! Our numbers are broken down already! If the idea with the Hero Faction fails, we'll be hard pressed, a lot of the smaller forces will be easily wiped out! If we do not bring them together and arrange them correctly-"

Keaton gave Grievous a dismissive hand wave. "Noted Grievous. But my decision is final."

Grievous just wanted to storm out in anger. As much as he was an asshole, he was an officer to his men, especially since they were now humanoids instead of just machines like he had once had to put up with. His troops mean a lot to him, and having Keaton claim they can be just used up in this so called idea of a surprise attack…his respect for Keaton dropped.

Keaton turned his attention to Unholy. "You. I expect you, within these few days, to be able to gather whatever Zerg as you can from Char, and get them into my ranks, controlled."

Unholy had his feet up on the table, arms across his chest, chuckled a little. "Heheh, I'll be hard pressed, but I should be able to grab you enough for what you need. Many of the higher ranking Overminds won't listen, but the lesser fools? Easy enough.."

Keaton declared the meeting was over, and departed, followed by Grievous, Flame Stag, Vile, Storm Eagle and Huang Zhong. The others were just talking amongst themselves. Aqua was saying to Terra and Ventus who much of a dick Keaton seemed to be towards those his working with, when she heard a female voice behind her.

"So, don't I get a kiss after all this time Aqua?"

Kei Yuki had walked over to where the three were, smiling sweetly to Aqua, who turned out, blushed a little, feeling awkward by the fact Kei was here. "Oh…hey Kei…been a while, hasn't it."

Terra was a little surprised. "Wait…this is the Kei Yuki you were talking about once Aqua? The one you had a fun time with?"

Aqua was a homosexual, and in the past, when she was 22 and Kei was 23, they found each other on the planet simply known as Green, a lush, beautiful forest world, designed as a holiday resort within the territory…a couple of drinks later one night, and Aqua found herself a virgin no more, embracing Kei in her arms by morning.

Their relationship lasted for a week, before Kei had to return to work. It was brief but passionate, and Aqua hadn't forgotten it, but had moved on.

Aqua nodded to Terra. "Yep, this is her. Kei, Terra. Terra, Kei. And this is Ventus. Ventus, Kei."

Ventus just gave Kei a smile, as Terra shook Kei's hand. "Pleasure to meet you Kei. So you were Aqua's first girlfriend huh? Before she met her fiancée?"

It was Kei's turn to be surprised. "Oh? You're getting married Aqua? When?"

"Well, we, haven't decided on when just yet. Malisa said she'll contact me when she's figured it out. Wants to sort it all out by herself. I keep saying to her I can help but, well, she wants to surprise me." Aqua answered.

Kei was, slightly disappointed by this news. just seeing Aqua gave her hopes that maybe they could try things again after their holiday romance.

Elsewhere in the room, Xehanort, Chaos, Cortex, Dark Rich, Eraqus and Unholy Rich came together. "I can't believe Keaton didn't want to use more bodies for these battles ahead, I mean, so many experiments of mine, going to waste…" Cortex groaned on about.

Xehanort shook his head. "And you expected him to use those useless things? The reason he won't is because you're no Gerald Robotnik, Cortex. Your imperfect creatures can hardily live, let alone be of any use to anyone."

…Boy did that get Cortex's attention. Gerald Robotnik was a man Cortex always looked up to, and always wanted to become as famous as. "How dare you! I am as great as Gerald, thank you very much!…I've just….yet to make my breakthrough…Unholy is close enough to success, is he not?"

Xehanort turned his attention to Unholy Rich, who was just standing there, staring at most of them. "Subject 5? hm, well, I suppose he is a so called, success…"

Unholy just chuckled a little, now staring right at Xehanort. "You're just annoyed that you didn't create me, fragile old man. You made my younger brothers, one who is useless to us, and the other, well, he seems acceptable, aren't you, brother?"

Dark Rich had his arms crossed, not even looking at the group he was with, mostly focusing on Kei, but he had heard Unholy. "Talk to me like I'm inferior to you again, and I'll bury you alive."

Eraqus had been standing there, eyes closed, thinking for a moment, before looking at Chaos. "That suggestion you put forward, is going to be costly to all of us…but you wanted to do it for a reason, didn't you?"

Chaos looked at him carefully, then nodded. "For my own reasons, yes. To help us gain steps to winning this civil war, there's something I need to see. problem is if the SF aren't diverted enough, they might find it before I do and collect it. with them busy with Keaton, I'll be able to retrieve it."

"Retrieve what, Chaos? What is it that requires us to risk so much?"

"…You'll find out in time."

Behind that pair of glasses he wore, in his mind, he knew what he was really doing. eliminating those that could prove dangerous. Working the GF, it was all just a way to get them to die off, remove a side in all this. And as for that thing he was after…he was being truthful, he didn't want the SF to find it first, keeping them busy is the best option…

* * *

The next day in the Hero Base, at 12pm in the labs, Wily was being annoyed by a certain guy.

"Chad, no movements yet. You're not going there."

"Oh come on Wily! I can take 'em!"

"No Chad. what I said before still stands."

With those two arguing, was Darkmega. sitting at the table again, listening in. he had told Chad about his encounter with Medi, and thought Chad would be annoyed by the fact Darkmega scored before him, as he heard from Shadow about the whole thing going on last night. But Chad instead said something about tonight being different…

Darkmega soon spoke. "Chad, ya really need to calm down about this, alright? Nothing's changed yet. They haven't made a move, and nor have the Shinra. Richard's fine. They haven't killed him yet, most likely."

Wily agreed with him. "They know his useful in his state as a Zerg Overmind. Grievous would want a creature with an ability to control the Zerg on his side."

Chad, despite the lack of ANY sleep, was still filled with energy, demanding to get to the space station and help Richard…wherever this was an adrenaline high or he had a dozen cups of caffeine, was still up for debate by Darkmega.

It was as Chad was about to continue asking, that the computer started to beep, signalling someone was trying to contact them. Wily waved his hand at Chad, to signal him to shut up, while he pressed a few buttons on the computer to answer the call, opening a communication channel. "This is Albert Wily of the Hero Base Faction. Who is call-"

He got his answer quick enough, by the screen of the computer showing the person, who had opened a full face to face communication instead of just by voice…Keaton. standing there, arms behind his back, Looking a little smug by Wily's shocked expression. "Albert. It's a pleasure to speak with you again."

Chad looked, as did Darkmega. Keaton noticed Chad, then the Dark Navi, knowing who it was. "Ah, so, I was right all that time ago…"

"The hell do you want Keaton!" Wily was…pissed, at not only seeing this fucker again, but also by the fact his hopes the guy was dead were fruitless.

Keaton focused back to Wily. "Now now Wily. I know in the past we've had…issues, but I'm here on good terms towards you, no ill will of any kind."

Wily went silent, waiting for Keaton to continue, wondering what bullshit he was going to spew.

"Wily, I know you've been keeping track on us, on the Galactic Federation. No doubt Rufus asked you to do so, did he not? If so, why not turn your attention, your devices, in his direction instead? Why not work for me, help preserve the real Federation, not this, false one that's risen up and assumed command."

Wily gave a harsh laugh. "You call this rising rabble of yours the real Federation? Keaton, the Galactic Federation is being choked out of existence, why don't you accept that and just turn yourself in? I'm sure Rufus could give you a noticeable position in the new Federation."

"Wily. Albert. You know a lot of people still believe in the Galactic Federation. It'll only be a matter of time before our full might is revealed by the support, and we'll break Rufus, and bring peace back, bring back the flag we all know and understand."

"Oh yes, alot of people do believe in the Galactic Federation…like say, the Protoss. But they got what was coming for them. They got driven out of our territory. And your other allies have simply bailed out and folded, gave up to this new flag."

Keaton shook his head slowly. "But when we show ourselves, they'll turn back to us. We'll be as strong as before, and end this, rebel, that's claimed the title of emperor…You know you can help turn this tide more so to our favour Wily, both you and Light. Finally earn my respect. If you do, I'll no doubt give each of your allies and you rewards which will…certainly be ample."

Wily was about to say something, most likely to reject the offer and tell where Keaton can stick it, but instead, Chad decided to butt in and pretty much do that for him. "Look Keaton. We're not going to join you, alright? As far as I'm concerned with this, you deserve to get an ass kicking from us for A, working with my sworn enemy Chaos, and B, for having Richard, Wily's Grandson, in your grubby hands….oh and C, for being a fucking dick to us all when you had us arrested."

Albert simply sat back, and noticed Keaton's attention turn towards Chad, frowning at him a little, before looking at Wily once again. "Albert, who…is this lowlife? Do you always allow others to interrupt important conversations?"

Chad glared. "Lowlife? Why I oughta-"

Wily raised his hand towards Chad, making him stop talking, before he looked back to the screen. "Keaton, this is Chad Malyan, the boy who mostly, along with Darkmega, defeated Unicron. You need to show respect for those you regard as, 'lowlifes', if you want support to your cause. This is your downfall…and will be when the flag of the Galactic Federation burns, along with the idiots that think it deserves to come back into power."

Keaton now was losing his friendly demeanour towards the old robotic creator, his voice rising up a notch. "So that's what you think of the GF do you? That it'll fall before this, pathetic excuse for a new age Federation?"

Wily nodded calmly. "mmhm. You see, Keaton, although Rufus and you and the same in some aspects, from what I've gathered over time, like you both want more power all the time, and more control over matters, there is a difference. Rufus has a goal beyond the Shinra Federation, which isn't of war with established powers like the United Federation of Planets, Klingons, Romulans, Galactic Empire and so forth, unlike you.

"On top of this, Rufus does see those that are…less well off, as peasants and lowlife's, but when he speaks to them, he keeps it to himself instead of expressing it, and knows the difference between peasants and people with potential…like Malyan here. He respects the boy for what his done, and even hopes that they'll work together at some point to see just how much ability Chad here truly has." This caught Chad off guard a little. Rufus respects him?

"He makes sure to gain the support of the people, through fear and respect, instead of throwing money their way and hoping things will be alright. You? You would simply be like the High Ministers, except much worse…who wants an endless war with neighbouring forces?…Only the pathetic, weak excuse for a Federation, and it's Leader, it's pride filled Grand Commander, Keaton Al'Keriff."

Keaton was furious at this, his face turning red slightly, shaking a little in anger. "You…Albert Wily! I wont forget this insult! I swear to Blind Lo, that I'll make you pay! First I'll kill that goddamn Grandson of yours, then, when we've broke most of the Shinra Federation's hold in this territory, I'll come and kill you myself!"

With that, he abruptly ended the communication.

Darkmega had gone from watching the computer screen, to looking at Wily. "Well, there goes Richard. You got asshole Keaton pissed right off."

Dr Wily seemed to be relaxed about this fact. "He won't do it. I very, very highly doubt his ally, Chaos, captured Richard just for a bargain chip to me…at least he won't yet."

Chad was looking at Wily in that way that showed he felt Wily had doomed a close friend. "Well we better damn hope so then. Seriously Wily, couldn't you of, I dunno, made a bargain? Ya know, agree, make Keaton bring Richard, then we pounce and take him back by force, kick Keaton's ass?"

"Yes, attack Keaton, and have his entire force that's behind him solely focus on us first. A brilliant idea." Wily answered with obvious sarcasm in his voice. "We have the advantage already Chad. That advantage is Rufus. Keaton will attack the Shinra forces sooner or later, and when he does, he'll be distracted and away from the station where Richard is held. That'll be our cue."

Darkmega thought about this for a moment. "So, we're pretty much going on a whim that he won't kill your grandson, and he'll leave the space station along with the others there when the fighting goes down, that right?"

"Oh he wouldn't miss the chance of being on the frontline if it meant he would gain glory from it. And moving in to take out Rufus and topple the Shinra Federation? That's something that he'll see as a glory filled war. Now if you don't mind I'm going to visit Light and let him know we had a call from the asshole."

* * *

Keaton was storming down one of the many metal corridors of the space station, an energy rifle in his hands his footsteps echoing as he went.

He was going to carry out what he said to Wily. Anger filled him after Wily's words went into his ears. He now just wanted to kill Richard, prove he will do it. Show that old bastard what happens when you keep annoying and insulting a powerful man such as him.

Soon he had got on a lift, pressing on it the button to reach level 9. The lift seemed to take a moment to respond, but soon enough, it started it's slow decent down to that level, where his target was held.

When it reached the floor he wanted, and the doors of it slid open, he was greeted by something certainly unusual.

Darkness. Pitch Black darkness beyond the steel doors of the lift. Thankfully the energy rifle had a light on it, and Keaton switched it on, pointing it towards the darkness…and to his surprise, it didn't go through it. Nothing was seen, not even the corridor that was suppose to be there.

He heard a voice though, in the corridor, a deep, male voice. "You look like him. But the path you've made, is more darker."

"And who am I talking to, who's cowardly enough to hide from my sight?" Keaton answered with.

"I walk a road you don't, but at the same time, you do. Another you does. A different time. A different Universe. You march to kill Richard Wily. That, I cannot allow."

Keaton glared, keeping his gun aimed at the darkness. "Oh? And why not? His a mutation anyway."

"Because he is needed. He is more vital to you and others then you'll ever know. He is yet to reach his true power. Allow him mercy, he cares little for his family as much as they, care little for him. Listen to my words, Keaton. Return to where you came from, and leave him be."

Keaton couldn't help but feel like the voice was right. Something told him that he would be better off just leaving the killing untill it's proven the boy is useless. He stood back a few steps, lowering his rifle, and soon, the lift doors closed, as he headed back up.

The darkness slowly begun to fade, as the voice said to itself. "Useful to you…a lie, but one I can live with."

Keaton found the lift coming to a stop, back where he had come from, and when it opened, he saw Chaos standing there, no doubt looking at Keaton through those black glasses of his. "Ah, I thought you went this way Keaton. I had hoped to catch you. I checked the recordings and noticed the talk with Wily ended quite badly, so I expected you would carry out what I suggested."

Keaton looked at his rifle for a moment, then looked at Chaos, sighing in annoyance slightly. "I was going to, but I felt the brat could be useful to us. Afterall, he hasn't shown any loyalty to his family for over two years. That Dark Soul inside of him has made him an enemy to them, which is useful to us, if, we can get him to work for us."

Chaos seemed to bring one of his hands forward, looking at it while rubbing his fingers together. "Interesting. I was going to tell you the same thing. His valuable to us still. Despite our inability to gain Wily's support-" His focus returned to Keaton. "-We can still beat Rufus. We still have the advantage. Even Wily can't know of all the locations of our forces."

Keaton stepped out of the lift, allowing to close. "Doesn't matter if he does. I'm all in favour of moving as soon as possible. In a few days we'll be attacking, and perhaps by the end of a week, we'll be on Gaia VII, with Rufus's corpse on the floor. I want him gone Chaos, and once his gone, those that chose to oppose me like that damn Dr Wily, will suffer."

"No doubt he'll quickly decide to support you once Rufus is dead. Alot of those that support Rufus now will Keaton. You just need to slice off the head, and the body will die." Chaos answered, before noticing Keaton's attention was to something behind Chaos. He turned, and standing there, looking at them, was the 5th Clone, Unholy Rich, having got up behind him without making a sound.

"Master Keaton, Chaos. My apologies, I was going to talk to Chaos when I noticed you Keaton. I was just waiting for you both to finish."

Keaton understood. "It's fine. We're done anyway. Chaos, I expect to see you tomorrow morning for the meeting to discuss our prime targets." With that, he passed by Chaos, then Unholy Rich, heading back to the armoury first, then to go and rest in his room.

Chaos remained silent, as he watched Unholy look him up and down for a moment, before chuckling slightly. "So, Chaos…Interesting name to go by for what you are."

This, really took Chaos back. He sounded surprised slightly as he frowned a little. "Excuse me? What do you mean by that?"

Unholy just stared into the glasses of Chaos. "I can see past the shell, 'Chaos'. I know who you are really. And you know I'm made of the same thing. You may have blinded others before, but not me. But I'm not going to inform anyone."

"Oh? And why is that?"

"Because, I want to serve you. You're him. The one. The first one. I saw the moment I first looked at you, felt it in my body when I saw beyond those shades you wear. It would be my greatest pleasure to obey your commands and follow your lead." with that, he took and long, low bow to Chaos. "I am at your service. Chaos."

Chaos smiled. An ally, and one, he could indeed trust. He knew he could.

* * *

Elsewhere on the Space Station, Aqua was in one of the dormitory rooms, having just had a relaxing shower, wrapped in a huge black towel, covering her upper legs, up to her torso, as she sat down, at a small metal desk nearby, just about to use a blue hair dryer she got out from a nearby drawer just now.

The room was plain, expected for a military location. A simple metal bed with a decent mattress, white covers and pillows. There was three long strip lights on the ceiling, and the whole place was a army greenish colour. Not for individual tastes of course.

It was as she was nearly finished sorting out her hair, when she heard a female voice. "Aqua?"

Aqua had been sitting on the chair, looking away from the door, and as the dryer was on, she didn't hear Kei, in her lab coat, enter the room after knocking a little. The blue haired woman quickly stood up in surprise, turning to see Kei standing there. "Kei! C-Can't you see I'm a little busy?", her face turning slightly red.

Kei smiled a little, putting her hands behind her back. "Well it's not like I haven't seen you like this before…although I admit, you're bust has expanded since the last time I saw it covered only by a towel."

Aqua just blushed even more now. "Kei, what is it? What do you want?"

Kei seemed to think about this for a moment, then answered with "I just wanted to spend a little…catch up time, with you. By ourselves."

It had been half an hour, before Ventus was seen heading down the corridor, towards Aqua's room. "Jeez, why can't Terra just come and tell her instead of nagging me to go and do it…"

He knocked once and opened the door without even thinking. A custom he normally did back home when it came to Terras and Aquas rooms. The only time he knew to stay out is when it so happened to be locked.

He walked in the now dark bedroom and started with "Hey Aqua, Eraqus and the others have decided-"

He stopped.

Aqua and Kei were on top of the bed, without the cover, both stark naked and close. Kei had been in the middle of using her right hand to finger Aqua, and using her left one to fondle her own breasts, while Aqua was touching her own, kissing Kei passionately, and by the looks of it, was getting close to an orgasm when Ventus walked in.

They both just stared at him, as he stuttered out, face bright red "-That, uh, um, we are to go with, l-lady Kei and Dark Rich in one of the planned attacks…" he trailed off, staring at them. Two beautiful women, making out? He had a massive hard on right now.

He knows Aqua is damn hot for a girl that only likes other girls, and has stared at her at moments, but goddamn, this was just, awesome for him. Both were good looking, both were fit, and both had decent sized breasts, and nice looking pussies too, as he now knows. "I'll, just, tell them y-you were both informed." with that he quickly left, closing the door behind him.

He needed to get back to his room pronto and work this off, With that lovely image in mind, of course.

Aqua quickly looked at Kei. Yep, this was Kei's idea of catching up, and Aqua just went with the flow. "Kei! Didn't you lock the doo-mmph!"

Kei got back to work on Aqua, her mouth re-connecting to hers, and her fingers doing their wonderful touching to Aqua's sensitive regions.

Kei and Aqua weren't going to be the only ones having some fun this evening.

* * *

With Shadow's advice in mind, Chad was making a bold stride down the corridor, towards where Anna stays. He knew what to do and how to do it. This was it.

The enemy was soon in sight.

The Cock Blocker, Zhang He.

Tonight, that title will be lost.

Chad's been thinking this over all day, unsure if he should try it, having to go as far as asking Dr Wily if there was any rules about instant teleportation within the base with an energy ability he knew, into someone's room, who's protected by a bodyguard. Wily just shrugged and answered with, pretty much. "If the person being protected doesn't mind, then the guard can't do jack shit about it. Not our problem."

Chad had then raced to Anna, saying he wanted to come over tonight, and promised her that Zhang he won't be a problem…this led to her believing murder or beating him up was on the cards, and took Chad a while to calm her down, saying he won't be hurt.

And now here he was, standing before Zhang he, who had his arms crossed, watching Chad. "Trying again are we? Well it won't work. I'm not moving."

Chad decided to play around a little. "But Zhang He, she loves me, I love her. Don't you understand that? We're destined to be together. You believe in true love, right?"

Zhang He stood firm. "Chad, I'm not moving for you."

Chad looked like he was in despair, getting close to crying. "Zhang He why! Why won't you move for our love! We want it to blossom! It's not fair! It's just not fair at all and-" suddenly looking fine. "-Chaos Control!"

One bright green flash, and Chad vanished. Zhang He just stared blankly at where Chad once was. "…The fuck?"

That's when he heard the sound of Anna's door being locked.

He twirled round, looking at the door, and banged hard on it. "Anna?"

The voice he heard from behind the door was Chad. "Oh dear dear dear mister He. It seems you failed at your job."

"MALYAN! GET OUT OF THERE AT ONCE!"

"Make me. Wily said there was no rules about using my powers to get in, so you can go cry to them for all I care."

"I'm warning you! Leave Annas room!"

"Nah, it took me a few days to get in here. The hell makes you think I want to get back out?"

Zhang He's ranting went on for a at least a good ten minutes.

Anna's room was like any other, grey, basic and simple. Anna was seen laying in bed, looking surprised at Chad, while he stood at the door, listening to the sweet sound of Zhang He's cries of outrage. She was in her white pyjamas, which had buttons on the top. She sighed, waiting for Chad to leave Zhang He alone, his little moments of laughing or saying something back was not helping matters.

Eventually, Zhang He had left them alone, no doubt storming off to try and speak with the docs about this. Chad looked over to Anna, smirking. "What? He'll get over it in time."

Anna sighed, rolling her eyes. "More like he'll hound you in the morning…so, are you just going to stand there, or come over and snuggle up with me?"

* * *

**Mature mode bitches. (Yes, I know the Kei and Aqua SHOULD count. But to me, it was too minor, so I just said 'fuck it' and left it at that.)**

* * *

Chad chuckled slightly, then moved over toward Anna's bed, sitting on the side of it, and started to take his clothes off. "So, did you expect me to pull that stunt off?"

Anna looked at him carefully, while laying there, as his shirt and jacket came off, showing his chest and back. "Someone suggested it to you didn't they?"

Chad playfully answered with "Noooooo…"

"Was it Shadow?"

"Why do you think it's him?"

Chad took off his shoes and socks, as Anna sighed once again. "Chad, Shadow uses Chaos Control. It's most likely you got the idea off him after explaining what Zhang He was doing."

Chad smiled at her, before standing up and, to her surprise, simply took off his trousers and pants, leaving her to see everything, as he turned towards her. She just blushed deeply. "Well guess you figured it out. So, gonna move over and let me in?"

"C-Chad…you're…naked…"

Chad was in a confident mood right now, and had no problems with showing himself, as Anna slowly moved back, allowing Chad space to get into bed with her. "So? And you're not."

Anna was just flustered now, going even redder by the second. He was naked, in her bed, and with the way he spoke to her, he was suggesting that she get undressed too. With him, in bed, with her.

She did want to take it off, but nerves were already getting to her, so Chad decided to get to what they were doing last time…well, minus him being naked. He moved in towards her, as she just waited, and begun putting his hands on her, touching her gently, cupping a feel on her breasts through the fabric, and feeling her ass, all the while as he kissed her on the lips, then begun to nibble on her neck.

She just started to giggle, and lightly pushing Chad. "C-Chad stop it. It's ticklish there."

He didn't, he begun to suck on her neck, making the tickling sensation seem to fade, and instead, small little waves of pleasure pulsed through her, as she slightly submitted to him, allowing him to feel her all over, all but one spot, as one of Chad's hands went to it…her vagina. The second his middle finger touched the lips through the fabric, she shut her legs, Chad having managed to quickly get his hand away from being caught.

She looked concerned a little at Chad. "Chad, I, I'm not sure if I'm ready. It's, really sensitive down there right now…"

Chad had sat up, as did Anna…with her noticing he was now fully erect. "Anna…"

"Look, we, well I, had a feeling tonight was gonna be the night and all, and took the pill but…won't it hurt? Alot?"

Chad nodded, now his confident start was draining away. This was his first time too. "Well, yeah Anna. But it should feel better as it goes on….I think. And I've taken the pill too, so we don't need to worry about anything going wrong in that area. No getting you pregnant and all that."

Anna looked unsure, fidgeting while sitting there. "Well it's just, Keira said it would hurt quite badly. When her and Jak done it back on their home world, she said it was just an overall horrible experience the first time."

"Anna. It'll be okay. This is our first time. I'll try my best not to hurt you too much, alright? Why don't you let me, ease you in? You know, touch you there." he said this while putting a hand on her cheek, leaning close in, looking at her in the eyes, giving her a sense to reassurance, as his other hand slowly made it's way towards her lower region.

She lowly moved her legs, allowing him access, as he started to kiss her again. His hand found it's mark, and he felt her jump a little, but this time didn't try to snap her legs shut like a Venus fly trap. He gently moved his hand and fingers, taking his time to finally touch her special place. Granted he wanted to touch it properly aka with clothes off, but Anna was having a hard enough time with clothes ON right now. Then he thought about it.

What if he did the removing of her gear? He slowly moved his other hand from her cheek, and placed it on the top button of her pyjamas, and with his fingers, undone it. Anna didn't stop it, just shaking a little, as he continued, moving to the next button, and the next, untill he reached the end of her top, exposing her small supple breasts to him.

He liked what he saw, and decided to touch them, now they were revealed. Soft as anything, Chad gently grabbed one, then the other, massaging them while going back to his kissing, stopping his other hand for the moment. Anna, getting a bit more comfortable and knowing Chad was fine with her, took off the top altogether, tossing it off the bed.

Chad nudged her, making her lay back down, as he aimed for the next bit of clothing, gently putting his hands on the side of her pyjama bottoms, and slowly moving it down. Anna just closed her eyes, letting him have control, as her vagina was finally shown to him, with it's little tuff of reddish brown hair above it. Soon the Pyjamas were on the floor, leaving Anna naked before Chad…which just made his erection stay fully up, as he looked her up and down, smiling sexually at her. "Wow…I could just stare at you all day Anna."

Anna's face hadn't stopped being red so far. "Please don't. Just, stop staring…"

He moved back in on her, touching her there once again. This time, it was more of an intense feeling to Anna, as the fabric was gone what eased the touching. He was putting his middle finger inbetween her soft lower lips, and gently moving it up and down, and eventually, as she felt herself get slightly wet, press it in. She winced slightly, looking at him, worried once again. All he had to do was kiss her to make her understand it was still okay, and after only a few gentle twists and rubs of his finger halfway inside of her, he removed it, and positioned himself, his cock ready to enter her.

"Anna? I'm going to push it in, alright?"

Anna looked at it, then him, and nodded, closing her eyes tightly, bracing for the worst.

Boy oh boy was it bad.

Chad started to push himself into her, and right away, as the tip of his manhood got into her vagina, she tried closing her legs on him. He tried touching her breasts and kissing her, but it only slightly eased her, as more of his cock went inside, she tensed up yet again, her legs going into a tight grip on him.

Eventually, with him trying to continue, his cock met with something inside, stopping him. He knew what it was, and slowly pulled back a little…then pushed forward…he ripped through her hymen, but in return, the shot of pain made her pussy, and her, go into a death grip on his manhood, painfully squeezing it, as blood slowly begun to ooze, and Anna was starting to cry from the pain.

Her legs combined with her vagina gripping him in the most sensitive area was no fun ride for Chad either. "Anna! Anna! You're, you're death gripping my cock girl, and killing me! Could ya kinda ease up? Right now before I have to go to hospital with a shattered hip?"

She was trying, but the second he moved it just hurt all over again. Slowly, he started to move in and out of her, but it was almost impossible to get any pleasure out of it with the way she was, and the pain she was causing.

Anna soon pleaded, finally opening her eyes. "Chad, Stop! It's just hurting!"

It was the signal to pull out, which he did carefully, and FINALLY she stops trying to crush his waist with her legs. She was looking at him, scared of what just happened, and then noticed she was leaking blood.

All panic broke loose.

* * *

**Mature mode end, bitches.**

* * *

Chad had put his pants back on, sitting on the edge of the now remade and clean bed, with Anna sitting close to him, wearing her pyjamas once more.

It had taken Anna a good two hours to calm down. She quickly went to the bathroom, panicked that the blood wouldn't stop, then, as it did, and she returned to the bedroom, she noticed the blood on the bed, wanting it changed and cleaned, then made Chad go and clean himself up, as he had blood on his penis.

Now she was deeply guilty about it all, leaning on Chad and apologising. "I'm sorry, it's just, it WAS painful you know. It's all new to me."

Chad put his arm around her, holding her close. "It's okay Anna. I, shoulda guessed things wouldn't be smooth on the first try. But, hey, think about it. It's broken now. We're both no longer virgins. We can always try again another time."

Her face of worry showed she wasn't as easily acceptable to that idea as Chad was. "A-Again?"

"Hey, Anna, come on, it takes time, but I'm sure we'll make it enjoyable eventually."

She slowly nodded at him, and just stayed there for a moment, letting him hold her close, before saying "Can you stay the night at least? I want you to keep me close like this."

Chad smiled sweetly. "Of course I can."

* * *

It was the next day, at 9am, back on Space Station RE886. Another meeting was being held, with all those that was present in the last one. It was about Chaos's idea, and what Keaton had come up with overnight.

As the hologram screen showed the worlds of the SF, Keaton pointed out two that were the main targets.

Gaia IX.

And Earth X.

"Gaia IX is where I want you, General Grievous, to make the attack, along with Kei Yuki, the clone Dark Rich, and the keybladers that Eraqus and I agreed that should go with them. We can muster an army of 40,000 to make the invasion Grievous, so you must do what you can."

Keaton had said this, looking across the table to where Grievous now stood, noticing the fact that the cyborg general was no longer just standing right beside him this morning. "Is that understood?"

Grievous nodded, then looked at Eraqus. "How many of your people am I expecting then?"

Eraqus looked to Terra, Aqua and Ventus. "These three shall be coming with you, along with an additional 500 Keyblade warriors. That's all I am willing to send this far away from our worlds. The rest of my forces and myself will be divided and support the uprisings closest to our home."

Grievous understood, then looked to Keaton. "It will have to do."

Xehanort smiled, noticing the irritation in Grievous's voice.

Keaton then looked to Earth X "Meanwhile, I'll lead a 90,000 task force to take over Earth. Along with us will be the Zerg army, once we deployed the clone to Char. Along with me besides the clone will be Flame Stag, Storm Eagle, Vile and Cortex."

Xehanort then spoke up. "While this is going on, I'll deploy what forces I have of Shadowlaw to those worlds with the lowest numbers. At least give them a small chance of survival in this plan." Then he looked at Chaos. "Leaving you, Chaos. What will you do?"

Chaos was sitting, calm and relaxed, in his chair, looking at Xehanort through his glasses. "I'll be here monitoring the battles, making sure the most accurate of messages get to all of you. Keaton knows we can't just leave such a task to Huang Zhong, his old senile age might get to him at the worst of times."

Huang Zhong quickly stood up, infuriated. "Say that again you little whelp, I'll beat the living-"

Keaton raised his hand. "Huang Zhong stand down!" The old man slowly did so, sitting back down, glaring angrily at Chaos. "Chaos can stay here. Huang Zhong however, will be the head of the security here, and if, Chaos, if, it seems like your up to something else besides helping us?…I'm sure he'll embed an arrow right into that brilliant mind of yours."

Huang Zhong grumbled a little. "I'd like to right now, Believe me…"

Chaos nodded. "Understood Grand Commander."

Keaton focused on Huang Zhong again after that. "Speaking of what's going on, has He Jin, the King of Han, responded to our call for aid?"

Huang Zhong shook his head. "He has chosen to wait and see. As has Liu Biao when I called him afterwards. Their plan is to join in once at least one of the two planets we're aiming for is captured, deploying their entire force onto the one remaining. They are still loyal to the Galactic federation, but as normal for He Jin, he'd rather wait for an advantage."

"That's fine. As long as he joins in once we've taken a world…" Keaton smiled and leaned forward, looking at the hologram map. "Rufus, my dear boy. You won't even have the slightest idea of what's coming to you…"

* * *

"They'll hit here and here."

The voice was of Emperor Rufus, and he was in a much smaller meeting, in Junon Harbour. Before him was the same Holographic image of the Shinra Federation owned territory. In the room with him, sitting at the round metal table, was Dr Robotnik, Colonel, Snake, Master Chief and close to him, as a hologram from her PET, was Cortana.

The planets he pointed out, were Gaia IX and Earth X.

Dr Robotnik rubbed his head a little. "But Sir, according to the reports, they're just going to hit where all their forces are stationed. There is no specific-"

Rufus was standing, and looked at Robotnik for a moment. "You really think Keaton wouldn't make any major attack during panic? Think about it. Gaia IX and Earth X are pretty much a stone throwaway from this Planet. He'll organize attacks on both of them. One is going to be led by Grievous, the other, by himself."

Master Chief spoke up. "Then we've hit a problem. Most of our forces are set on the other worlds to deal with the rebellions, but due to the fact there isn't any signs of enemy forces on this world and many others close by, we are lacking in numbers. To top that, we've already confirmed that the now suppressed forces of Mickey won't assist, choosing to stay out of it, and Maleficent and Black Doom of the ministries are still not making any moves."

Rufus dismissed the problem. "We've got a few days. Order what spare men we can back here so we can organise a defence."

Snake was smoking a cigarette, as he looked over to the Emperor. "A few days isn't much Rufus. We'll probably muster a small force, maybe about around the numbers of 20,000 to 25,000, but the thing is we're asking them to fight former allies. I've seen the troops, they aren't happy taking out former friends. You can expect a few officers, a few captains of our warships, to ignore your order."

Colonel nodded grimly. "If we add the best number we'll get to what we have on this world, Earth and Gaia IX, we're standing with about 35,000 trained men…"

Something in Robotnik's mind clicked. "Of course, we do have one reserve that we haven't been able to use…"

All of them looked to him. He continued. "Well, the Hero Faction have Yuan Shao, Liu Bei, Cao Cao and Sun Jian, all rulers belonging to Earth V, the planet that holds a vast amount of troops, which, if their forces were mobilized, could easily be brought here. Now I'm not saying we can convince all four, but Yuan Shao is our representative in that faction, And the doctors are an ally of ours Rufus. Perhaps if we could ask them, Yuan Shao can bring the numbers we need."

Snake nodded in approval. "That guy has a number under his flag. ranging around 250,000 strong on that world. If the other three were to help too, we would easily have 900,000. Of course the problem is mobilising them all, we'll need to lend several dozen carrier warships to do so."

Rufus thought about this for a moment. "…Alright. Robotnik, contact the doctors and Yuan Shao. We need as many troops as they can organise within the time we have. Colonel, I want you to still make the call for any possible extra forces we can to come back to these planets and help in the defence."

Then, he looked to the holographic screen, at Gaia IX and Earth X. "Keaton will be at one of these worlds…I want to make sure we can give him a proper welcome home."


	21. Battle for Gaia IX

"I will only accept IF I am allowed to lead the front lines of Earth X! The noble Yuan MUST be present for a vital battle such as this if his troops are to be used! As Ex-High Minister I have the right to decide!"

"Ugh, for the love of Azrael…"

The first voice belonged to Yuan Shao.

The second, Dr Albert Wily.

They, along with Dr Light, Cao Cao, Liu Bei and Sun Jian, were all currently in the Hero Base Lab section.

On the Screen of the computer in this place, was Dr Robotnik. He had implored to Yuan Shao and the other leaders of Earth V in the Hero Base to send their men to aid the Shinra Federation in their time of need, this included the likes of Dong Zhuo and Zhang Jiao.

Dong Zhuo refused to send anyone BUT Hua Xiong, if his warrior was up for it. There would be no additional forces from his side of things as he wanted his troops to be ready to attack Yuan Shao's territory, should Yuan's army get wiped out.

Greed is a bitch at times, but Yuan Shao, for the moment, allowed it to pass, on the account he won't be sending all his men to the battles anyway. Yuan Shao had called Hua Xiong and agreed for him to team up with Yuan Shao's own finest warriors, Yan Liang and Wen Chou, whatever battle they go to.

Zhang Jiao refused altogether, claiming Rufus to be an evil monster and have no heart, like Keaton….that, and his men are just pretty much peasants, meat shields and nothing more if they went to the frontlines, so for them, it was better this way.

Sun Jian would only agree if Liu Bei agreed.

Liu Bei would only agree if Sun Jian agreed.

Cao Cao told Robotnik he'll send what men he can to Gaia IX and Earth X and gave Liu Bei and Sun Jian the middle finger for being pussies and not choosing themselves.

Yuan Shao…well, he was haggling really. He had his own terms and conditions, the main one was that he wanted to lead the frontlines of at least one planet, no doubt to rub it in Keaton's face when the SF send him packing. Keaton had mocked Yuan Shao a lot during Keaton's time in office, so to show him that Yuan Shao IS a capable leader, would make the man very, very pissed off.

Dr Wily, Dr Light AND Dr Robotnik were against it.

Yuan Shao CAN be a capable leader…if the plan is mostly 'throw everything you have at the enemy and not even have a plan should ambushes occur or supply caches get hit.'. Keaton knows Yuan Shao's limited skill, and would most likely use it against him. Sending advisors with Yuan Shao won't make much of a difference, as Yuan Shao likes to see himself as the brains of the operation, and often refuses sound advice.

This is what cost him Guan Du back on Earth V all those years ago. He had the superior numbers, and the more officers…and he lost it because he only listened to himself. He had four advisors, hell, he had even Liu Bei who told him of sound ideas to handle Cao Cao, and even Lu Bu, who mostly spent his time on Earth V, partook in the battle and gave some advice.

All of it ignored, all of it would've made him far, far more respected to the High Ministers when they were alive, maybe would've got him a few more chances when it came to business ideas.

Cao Cao was now sitting back in a chair, sipping a can of lemonade, as the docs were waiting for Robotnik to finish speaking to Rufus about Yuan Shao's demands. Cao Cao knew it would be a terrible idea for Yuan to take the lead, but hey, it's not often his, old friend/once enemy now just friend who he likes to bully, has renewed confidence and willpower to try and lead a battle that could decide the fate of an empire far, far larger then just their old planet.

Sun Jian was sitting close to Cao Cao, waiting patiently, and Liu Bei was standing next to Yuan Shao, watching how this unfolds. Soon, Dr Robotnik turned his focus back to the other docs and Yuan Shao, sighing deeply and looking defeated. "…Yuan Shao, Rufus has agreed with your wish. You will lead the frontlines at Gaia IX instead though. His also agreed to send at least 10,000 trained SF troopers to assist your men and-"

Yuan Shao gave a huff, folding his arms. "My brilliant troops are more then able, Ivo. You can inform the fine emperor that Gaia IX is going to easily be secure and safe under my watchful eye."

Cao Cao gave a little snicker. Was Yuan Shao serious? "Yuan, forgive my interruption, but I feel your being a little rash. Your confidence is going to make you look like a fool if your not careful….again."

Yuan Shao looked over to his old friend, seemingly thinking for a moment. "…Ah, but of course. That's where you come in, Cao Cao. Sun Jian and Liu Bei shall prepare to deploy their men to Zebes should it be required, and you and your people will join mine in battle against the Galactic Federation!"

Cao Cao was about to take another sip of his drink when he came to a dead stop, looking in shock at Yuan Shao. He was fine with helping the SF out, but to do so with Yuan Shao….all the Wei ruler was thinking was if that fucker says to Robotnik to make it official-

"Robotnik, inform Rufus that it will be fine, as I have Cao Cao, combined with my forces, ready to beat down Keaton and bring forth peace once again!" cuing a dramatic pose from Yuan Shao, with his arm held out towards the computer screen.

Cao Cao was crushing the can slightly, glaring at Yuan. Dr Wily noticed this, and only gave Cao a look of feeling sorry for him. Dr Robotnik knew of Cao Cao's leadership talents, and felt a bit more relaxed about the idea now. "Alright Yuan Shao, I'll let him know. Will you be sending a list of what numbers you require to be transported to Gaia IX?"

"I shall compose a list, along with Cao Cao, very shortly."

The moment Dr Robotnik disconnected the call, Sun Jian was quick on his feet, heading to the door that leads to the main room, motioning at Liu Bei to follow him, and looking at the docs, doing the same. Dr Wily and Light looked baffled for a sec, but, seeing Cao Cao slightly shaking, they could see what was coming. All four left, just as Cao Cao swore loudly, threw the can at Yuan Shao's head, the throw only a few inches short in distance, and hitting the shoulder pad armor with a slight 'clang' sound, then pouncing on the man, cursing and swearing over and over about the fact he was now going to be dragged down along with him in the upcoming battle.

For Cao Cao, joining with Yuan Shao in any fight, is a goddamn major insult.

* * *

Chad had been avoiding Zhang He like the plague since that night. He had heard that the Wei Officer wanted to see him, and predicted it couldn't be a good thing. He tried to see Anna when he could, but often she would only have a few minutes, before Zhang He was coming towards her, and Chad fled.

Oh he could probably take Zhang He on, could possibly beat him even, but those claws he carries around, they look painful, and knowing Zhang He, he'll try to stab them into somewhere very, VERY unpleasant.

This was the tenth time today his hidden into a room to avoid Zhang He. Roll's room this time. She was standing there, sighing in annoyance. This was the fifth time she had seen him do this, the other four being other peoples rooms, now hers. "Chad Malyan. Slayer of Unicron, defeater of Darkmega, Terrified of a possibly angry gay friend…" the next bit she gave off with a bit of sarcasm, as she turned, and went to her bed and sat down. "What a hero."

"Gay friend now bodyguard with claws Roll." Chad replied before he clicked on the sarcasm she gave off at 'What a hero.'. "HEY!"

"Why don't you just go out there and talk to him face to face? It'll be a lot easier on the rest of us who don't want you just barging into their rooms and cutting conversations short because Zhang He heads your way."

"Roll, he has claws, sharp, painful looking claws. I don't want, to be on the receiving end of those after trying to bed Anna. She's an awesome girl and all, but Zhang He could easily maul one of the major 'tools' I need to keep our relationship going, with said claws." Chad shuddered a little at the thought.

"Well why don't you just get Anna to talk to him so he doesn't claw your 'tool'?"

"Because…" he stopped, thinking about it. "Huh…why didn't I think of Anna talking to him. She could find out what he wants from me. Maybe she already knows and if I ask, I can find out if I've got a good enough reason to keep hiding in rooms like yours."

"Well let's hope not. Personally I wouldn't want you coming in when I'm having a bath, all because Zhang He just so happened to walk down the corridor."

Chad soon eventually left Roll's room, leaving her to rest, and, with his eyes alert for Zhang He, snuck into Ridley's bar to see if Anna was around. Snuck….well, it was more like he was trying to be Solid Snake, looking round corners and pushing himself against walls. a lot of the folks who went by him looked at him like he was a weirdo.

At the bar, the clock showed it was 6 in the evening. Ridley had his normal customers, Samus, Yan Liang, Wen Chou, Zhang Liao and the such. Chad saw Anna sitting at a table with Medi and Keira, chatting away.

Chad looked around very carefully…no sign of the claw man. Chad calmly walked in, nodding to Ridley as he did, and walked over to Anna's table, hearing their chatter, before they spotted him. "Hey girls. Don't mind if I join do you?"

Anna shook her head. "Of course not. We're not talking about much anyways, mostly about guys and…giving tips."

Chad sat down at the table, looking at her oddly. "…Tips?"

Keira explained. "Medi was just explaining to Anna how sex gets better the more times you do it, and what to do to please a fella like you."

"Ah, that won't take much." Chad leaned back a little. "Dr Pepper, snacks and a cuddle would do me just fine."

Medi sighed. "Pleasing you as in sex wise. Blowjobs and the sort."

"Oh."

"Well, I'm sure we can talk more later anyway. Keira, wasn't there an update on the hospital computer you wanted to show me?" Medi asked.

Keira nodded, and both of them got up, leaving the bar. It was more or less intentional, to let Anna be a little more alone with Chad.

Anna smiled at him once the other two left. "So…about what happened…"

Chad decided to get to the point of his reason being here, just in case that bodyguard does come. "Anna can you talk to Zhang He for me before he dices my balls?"

"…Excuse me?"

"Zhang He. I think his a little mad about what we did."

Anna looked at Chad oddly, then, smiled, as if she just remembered something. "Oh, has Zhang He been looking for you then? Oh he just wants to talk to you, that's all."

Chad looked unsure. "…That's all?"

"That's all. Said about needing to confirm something with you."

Ground rules, it had to be. Zhang He was gonna lay some down to restrict Chad somehow. Chad guessed in his mind it was most likely to keep him from shagging Anna anymore.

"Oh, here he comes now." Anna looked behind Chad.

Chad froze up, he felt something looming over him, his spine giving chills, his pupils going small, and his gay radar going off the charts.

Zhang He wasn't looking furious or angry, he was simply giving Anna a smile. "Ah my beautiful Anna, how are you? And how is your…boyfriend?" the way he said that was with a hint of disgust.

Anna smiled at him. "Oh everything's fine. His just a little worked up because he thought you wanted to 'dice his balls'. You just wanna talk, right?"

Zhang He slowly walked round, and sat himself at the table. "Of course I do. Why would I want to dice his balls? If anything, I would rather slice them open, crush the sperm tubes then tear the muscles to shreds…if I had a problem with him."

Chad stared right at Zhang He, horrified.

Zhang He looked so calm and casual about saying that it even gave Anna the slight creeps. "…Yes well…I'll just leave you both to talk then, shall I? I'll be over at the bar." Anna slowly got up, and left the two to it.

Chad wished she never left them alone, he really did. It was awkward silence for a good several minutes, before Chad managed to just say "So, What-"

"Did you do it then?" Zhang He abruptly said.

"Huh?"

"Did you do it? Did you take her virginity?" Zhang He was giving him a glare now.

"…If I answer yes, will you do what you just said you would?" Chad was ready to run.

"If it turns out that you raped her for it, then yes, yes I would do what I said I would." Zhang He answered, he had his claws with him right now, and equipped one of them, looking at it carefully, then at Chad. "So? Have you taken it? By force?"

"No no! We both wanted to try sex!…granted it wasn't a great success, but we tried it and she did bleed down there, so, yeah, I took it pleasedon'tkillme!" Chad winced, waiting for Zhang He to either yell or just attack.

Zhang He just sighed in annoyance. "I told her to save it for marriage. It would've been more sweet that way, but no, other world people seem to think sex beforehand is good…"

Chad was relieved, that was all it was about. "You wanted her to save it before marriage? Zhang He, isn't that a little…ya know, old fashioned? Ya know most people shag before nowadays, and the GF-I mean SF, doesn't say it's wrong."

"Well it should! To give your first away before being bound together, it's just…ugh!" Zhang He shuddered.

Zhang He started to go into how on Earth V, Cao Cao would always marry before making love to women and so on. Chad didn't care right now, he was just glad his balls are safe and sound…and then, he heard his com-link go off. The voice was Yuan Shao. "Chad Malyan! I wish to speak to you urgently! It's of great importance!"

Chad picked it up. "'Sup Yuan Shao?"

"I want you to meet me in the main room of this base as soon as you possibly can!" with that, Yuan Shao hung up.

Chad was a little surprised at the way this sounded very urgent, and decided to quickly say goodbye to Zhang He and get going, to see if there was anything wrong.

When he got to the main room, he noticed Yuan Shao standing there, arms crossed against his chest, speaking to his two champion warriors, Yan Liang and Wen Chou. "Yan, I need you to get Guo Tu and tell him to get in contact with Earth V, we'll need to gather many of our finest men. Wen, I want you to go and speak with Cao Cao, find out who and how many he plans to bring to Gaia IX. His….current attitude with me is sour."

With that, both generals left his presence, heading off down the corridors. Chad walked up to Yuan Shao greeting him. "Hey Yuan. So what's the matter? Doesn't seem like anything's wrong around here."

"Ah! Chad, I need to ask you a small favour. I require you to join me in an upcoming battle."

Chad raised an eyebrow. "Battle? With whom?"

"The forces of the remnants of the Galactic Federation plan to attack across the Shinra Federation. We are to help them on the world known as Gaia IX. I…was wondering if you could come along."

"…Why?"

"Well, seeing as you are now known to those within the Shinra Federation and, mostly of those of this universe as one of the slayers of Unicron, your presence on the battlefield would surely turn the tide to my favour…more so."

Chad sighed deeply, looking right at Yuan Shao. "Basically you want me to tag along to make your image look good, is that right?"

Yuan Shao had to be honest here. "…Yes."

"Alright sure, why not? Keaton annoys me, suppose beating a few of his guys won't hurt."

Yuan Shao was, to say the least, overjoyed by this answer. "Excellent! Most excellent! You'll be a superb addition to our forces! Now I need you to be ready to leave within a few hours! We need to be on Gaia IX to prepare as soon as possible!"

"Whoa whoa wait a minute, a few hours? The battle can't be THAT soon right?" Chad quickly spoke out. He was fine with the idea, but wanted to hang around with Anna a fair bit first, now that the issue with Zhang He was mostly resolved.

"War doesn't wait my friend! We must be ready, be it days or weeks in advance!" with that, Yuan Shao headed back into the labs, leaving Chad staring at the spot Yuan Shao was.

Charlie was in the main room, reading a magazine and had overheard it all. "Sucks being you kid."

* * *

On the space station RE886, it made mostly fallen silent. Most of the corridors and rooms, empty of life. In the main control room, sitting at three screens with a keyboard before him, monitoring the universe, or more precise, the movements of the warships in the universe, was Chaos, seemingly sitting chair lazily in the chair, arms crossed, watching carefully, so it seemed, to anyone just seeing his black sunglasses.

Checking several computers around the room was Huang Zhong, which were monitoring the space station. Besides them, on the space station was about 100 troopers, all that Keaton was willing to leave behind for them, not expecting that Rufus would come and attack it.

Huang Zhong slowly made his way over to where Chaos was. "Richard is still contained within his chamber, and all teams have reported that everything is fine. What of Keaton and Grievous's fleet?"

Chaos answered in a flat, emotionless tone. "Fine. Keaton is three days away from his target destination, avoiding all patrol ships so far, and Grievous is only a day away from his. He encountered a patrol force but they chose to flee before trying to fight. Guess they don't want to test their mettle against someone like him."

Huang Zhong gave a chuckle. "Of course not! This is Grievous we're talking about!"

"Yes, the same Grievous who was against this idea, who might prove to be rather ineffective in the whole scheme. I think Keaton should've asked you or someone else to take charge. Didn't he even notice Grievous's distaste in choosing my plan over his?"

"Grievous knows when to place duty over his personal feelings about things. He'll complete his mission without any issues."

Chaos then stood up, and started to walk away, leaving the room. "Let's hope so. I'm going to check over the power core systems personally, keep an eye out for me."

Huang Zhong looked utterly baffled by Chaos's sudden move and plan. "Check the power systems? Why?"

Chaos stopped at the doorway. "Unlike you old man, I noticed a few power shortages in lighting within a few sectors of the station. It shouldn't take no more then a few hours to fix, if the power shortages get worse let me know." With that, he left.

"Bah, miserable whelp…" Huang Zhong soon sat himself down at the computer where Chaos was. Failing to notice a small program in the corner running…a countdown program, with two hours to go before something is triggered.

* * *

Gaia IX, one of the more popular trading worlds within the SF, it housed many minerals and ores within it's crust, now constantly harvested by the Federation. It was also known for it's powerful spices, which are the other main trading source, all of it once was being watched over by the ruler known as Queen Garnet.

Being a popular world for trading and visitors, as it was not far from Gaia VII, Queen Garnet of Alexandria came into power during the Darkmega incident two years ago, being pushed into the seat of power by Keaton Al'Keriff, who felt the previous appointed overall ruler of this world, Queen Brahne, was ineffective and wouldn't be able to assist should Darkmega get out of hand. Quick overthrow of power was an easy task, one that was done by Solid Snake. Snapping the neck of the fat queen took effort, but was manageable.

Of course, this was all during Keaton's reign. As he passed on and Rufus came to power, he stripped Queen Garnet of her rank of being the overall ruler of this world and controller of all trading going on, and passed the duties and rulership to Cid Fabool the 9th, who resided in his city, the most advanced on the planet and the actual main hub of the trade works, hence Rufus's power shift idea, called Lindblum.

As Chad stood in the throne room of the palace of Lindblum, leaning on a nearby wall, along with him in the room, was Yuan Shao, Cao Cao, Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan, Link, Sun Shang Xiang, Jak, Ryu, Ken, , another member of the base from the world of Earth X, from the street fighting ring, Yan Liang, Wen Chou, Guo Tu and Hua Xiong, they all overheard about the fact Queen Garnet hadn't taken this shift of power too well. Cid Fabool was currently sitting on his throne, fiddling with his huge moustache a little, as he spoke.

"We've already gathered reports from our own spies in Alexandria that she plans to allow Grievous and his men to stage their invasion on her turf, to expand and take out the mist Continent, and that means my force, and the force of the people of Burmecia. We've agreed to an alliance with the Burmecians, so long as we promise to allow them a bit of the shares and some small control over the trading of this planet. If Grievous manages to wipe us both out, he'll have nothing that'll stand in his way of taking this whole planet!"

"Do you know if Garnet plans to deploy her own men onto the battlefield?" Cao Cao asked.

Cid shook his head. "So far the reports conclude she plans to simply allow Grievous to land and grant him the space to establish a communication and supply center within her city walls, her forces are going to be defending those and nothing more."

Cao Cao gave a small smile at this news. "So, she's reluctant to send out support to him, and is, simply put, defending her own territory…That means she's unsure to backing them in the end, and that's something we can put to good use."

Yuan Shao frowned at his friend. "Cao Cao, there's no need to even worry about her. All we need to do is push everything we can at Grievous's men alone. And with fine warriors in my ranks, such as Yan Liang and Wen Chou, and the support of the Lindblum army while you have the support of the rat people of Burmecia, he'll be hard pressed to match us!"

Cao Cao slowly looked over to Yuan Shao, sighing as he did. "So that's how this is going to go is it? You get the airships and cannons, and I get the race of walking rats with lances and spears?…Why do I get the feeling I'm getting the short end of this? Still, no matter. What are the positions we need to cover and, or use, to advance into Alexandria territory?"

Cid got off his throne, and led them all over to a map of the world, hung up on a wall nearby. "There are two major entry ways into Alexandria's territory, the North Gate and the South Gate. The South gate is the larger one of the two, and is going to pose as a rather difficult position to get over, as we've found out that those operating and guarding are GF Troopers that pretended to swear allegiance to the SF. They started denying our airships and people entry into Alexandria territory a few days ago."

He then pointed to the North Gate, which actually was more in a westerly direction, but eh, they can call it whatever they wanted to, it's their world. "The North Gate is smaller and has much less numbers guarding it, the way through is by the Melda and Burcia gateways, but nearby, past the North Gate is Dali Village and it's Mountain Observatory, they will easily see over the gate and be able to watch all of our movements there instead of just relying on your technology."

Cao Cao looked at the map carefully. "Of course your city resides past the South Gate, meaning Grievous will no doubt deploy a major amount of his forces your way. The North Gate…hmm…if we keep our number to a minimum, we can put our front to a very good use…"

Cid continued on. "Once you pass the North Gate and South Gate, beyond the south to the east lays Treno. It's bound to be spot Grievous will have some of his troop wait in. They can easily come down the mountain once your forces pass by the Gate, so be cautious. To the north, You'll have to get by the Evil Forest, then head around towards Treno in order to get onto the higher plains and get to Alexandria. I have the feeling Grievous will focus his forces on the pathway leading to Alexandria, since the only other way is climbing up the mountain side from within the forest."

"Well then, I think we should get prepared. If I inform the warships that carry my men to land…here." Yuan Shao pointed at an area close to a spot called Chocobo forest. "Then we'll easily be able to prepare our march to the South Gate, and can use that forest to hide our armoury and communication equipment, as we'll need to keep in contact during the battle. What about you Cao Cao?"

Cao Cao pointed out Burmecia. "Deploy my men here. We'll work directly with the people to prepare our plans of assault on the North Gate. And I would like to ask Link, Sun Shang Xiang and Jak to come with me, if you don't mind Yuan Shao. As much as they'll be useful in your force, I do feel it would be fair if I had at least a few able people in mine."

Xiahou Dun looked offended. Was Cao Cao saying he and his cousin Yuan weren't good enough anymore?

Yuan Shao shrugged. "As you wish. I have more then enough champions anyway. With the likes of T hawk, Ryu and Ken guarding our armoury and communications, and with the others being my frontline pushers, all is well within my grasp."

Ryu looked over at Ken, a little annoyed, saying quietly to his friend. "They go out to get into the fighting, and what do we get? Guard duty."

Ken smiled. "Eh, beats having to move around, at least we can chill out."

Soon they all departed from the throne room, and as Yuan Shao led those that were to follow him away, telling them how they'll topple everything Grievous can throw, and Chad just mumbling that their gonna die, Xiahou Dun confronted his cousin. "Cao Cao, What's the actual plan then?"

Cao Cao continued to walk slowly down the corridor, as the others followed. "We'll simply be hanging back."

"What do you mean by 'hanging back'?" Xiahou Dun was a little surprised with this.

"We won't move our forces. We'll wait near Burmecia and allow Yuan Shao to take what glory he can against Grievous."

Jak felt he needed to input into this. "But that'll mean Grievous will ignore us if we don't pose a threat. He'll hammer down on Yuan Shao's army at the South Gate."

Cao Cao smiled. "Precisely."

* * *

Chad had to admit, it was rather a nice morning out here, on this world.

Despite all of the noise of transport ships, supply vessels, and the construction of metal walls to establish a temporary home for supplies and commutations dishes of Yuan Shaos in the forest, causing quite often, a large amount of chocobos to flee the forest, it was nice.

According to what had told him, they currently had seventy thousand men coming here, all belonging to Yuan Shao. These men wore steel armor, equipped with micro shielding, designed to withstand several energy shots, if lucky, and carrying vibro swords, and vibro spears, all obviously paid for by Yuan.

Their crossbows were updated as well, no longer requiring actual arrows, and were no longer wooden. They were complete made of metal, and had two blue glowing lines going down the sides, and fired blue energy shots in the shape, of arrows. They could launch about 20, before requiring a new energy cell. Bows were now equipped with heat creating arrows, the tips constantly at a high level heat when placed in the bow and fired, designed for armor piecing.

Once Yuan Shao became High Minister, he was granted the right to improve his men's tech to more modern standard. The rest of Earth V's kingdoms have been catching up, but time and creation of such weapons were an issue. Almost 75 percent of their armies now had the modern tech, and the funds of each kingdom have dropped heavily over this.

Horses were once a thing too, but now have been replaced, by hover bikes, heavy black machines with two circler energy dishes at the bottom of them, keeping the bike afloat, and a funnel for a jet boost on the back. This is something that several of kingdoms struggle paying for, except Yuan Shao, of course.

Chad noticed that most of the transport ships had landed and deployed the vast amount of troopers, and saw in the distance Yuan Shao, looking at a data pad, speaking with his adviser, Guo Tu, a man in his 30's, with a goatee, looking thing and rather willowy, wearing a golden robe and a green, small fancy feathered hat on his medium black hair, with string around the sides of his face that held it in place for him.

Chad walked over, as the two were discussing something.

"My lord, as directed, we've told Yan Liang, Wen Chou and Hua Xiong to go to the front lines, with our five thousand military spearman and crossbow bikers. They will lead the charge to the South Gate. T Hawk, Ryu and Ken are making sure the construction of the armoury is finished, then will await further orders whilst defending. Cid of Lindblum has agreed to your request for several airships armed with cannons to join our frontal attack on the gate." Guo Tu explained.

Yuan Shao nodded in approval. "Good."

Guo Tu continued. "Also my lord, as you instructed yesterday, I had given a call to several additional officers of our force back on Earth V. They will be also here within five to six hours to lead the remaining forces. The transport ship has already picked them up and heading to this planet. Chunyu Qiong is with them as you specifically asked, and has agreed to defend the armoury as well on arrival."

"Excellent. I trust he'll protect it with diligence like he did with Wu Chao back on our planet." The Ex-Minister focused on data pad whilst saying this.

That's when Chad quipped in. "Hey Yuan Shao, is there anything ya want me to do right now? Getting kinda bored and everyone seems busy."

"Ah, Chad! Actually there is something you can do for me. You can monitor the front lines. Don't engage, just, be around. Watch what's going on, and use your fast speed to tell me what's happening, incase Yan Liang and the others are too busy doing what they do best for me." Yuan Shao looked up from the data pad, giving Chad a smile.

"…That's it?"

"Of course. You are too young for anything else really. I can't have you leading the troops. I know you can fight, but this is a battlefield, which will be very dangerous for one person, especially when you're young, and not from our world. Wait 'till your older, then we can discuss you leading my fine men."

Chad frowned. Did Yuan Shao seriously just say that? "I tackled Unicron you know."

"And we're grateful. Now, if you could get to watching things for me?" That was all Yuan Shao said to him, before focusing back on his adviser. "Now, Tell me, what do we know of the structure of the South Gate? Will it be easily broken down and destroyed?"

Chad walked off, annoyed now. Yuan Shao asked him all this way to this planet, and places him on scouting duty…

* * *

Meanwhile, close to the named 'Evil Forest', with his troops settling around and getting ready to fight, was Grievous. Standing with him in a semi-circle, was Kei Yuki, Dark Rich, Aqua, Terra and Ventus. Behind him, high above on the mountain side, was the grand city of Alexandria.

"According to the communication reports, The enemy will be focused on the South Gate, from Lindblum, as expected. Numbers at around 70,000, nearly double our own, but the leader in question can easily fail to lead his forces correctly, so numbers aren't a problem. Currently I've placed forces in Treno and Dali. Those in Treno will march the moment the South Gate falls, to ambush the incoming forces from the mountain side, as will a large amount of those placed in Dali. Once they move in, I want our lines close to the South Gate to push as well. A three way attack will break their frontlines morale after toppling the gate. Once they are dealt with, a simple constant push against the remaining forces should drive them back to the other side."

The others listened as he continued. "Now the leader I said about earlier, is a man called Yuan Shao, the once High Minister. Once things go against him, he'll lose his ability to lead under pressure. The best way to do this, is not only with the South Gate plan, but to target his armoury."

"Will he have one?" Aqua asked.

"He has one alright. His constructing it now. Obviously he thinks our forces placed on the South Gate won't do any observations. They've spotted it being created in a forest. I want a raiding party to strike it and destroy it. That, along with what we've already planned, will break him, causing him to panic, and no doubt lose all control of his army. We clear them up, and march straight to Lindblum."

"What about the North Gate? Didn't some of the scouts at the mountain observation in Dali say about a force landing near Burmecia? Those animal folk living there won't just lay back and let us fight just Lindblum." Terra pointed out.

Grievous already had that in mind. "The forces in question, belong to Cao Cao, who's from the same planet as Yuan Shao."

"How did you-" Terra was about to ask something, but Grievous interrupted.

"It appears the fool, unlike Yuan Shao, as kept his channel open to all communicators. Several of our men who are monitoring the communication channels back in our own armoury have said about him deploying his small army at Burmecia, predicted at around 20,000. I do not know when he'll advance, but no doubt when he speaks to Yuan Shao through the com-link, we'll find out. Now, for your assignments…"

Grievous first looked to Aqua. "Aqua, you will lead the mountain attack from Treno."

"Ventus, you will lead the five hundred keybladers as the raiding party to the armoury. I do not expect it to be heavily defended. Yuan Shao isn't a smart man."

"Kei Yuki, you will lead those from Dali in the mountain attack. I know you are not a great fighter, keep to the mountainside and do not come down, just tell the men to attack when the time comes."

"Dark Rich, you will lead the frontline forces once the South Gate is breached, and our three way attack triggers."

The clone looked to Kei, who nodded to confirm she was fine with this, and thus, he was too.

"Terra, you are to take three thousand and watch at the North Gate. If Cao Cao does advance, seal the Gate, contact me so I can send support, and keep solely on the defence. You should be able to hold out, and with such a strong gate, Cao Cao will find it difficult to breach, unlike Yuan Shao and the Lindblum airships."

They all understood, nodding to show it was all clear and acknowledging with "Yes sir Grievous."

That's when one of the Galactic Federation troopers walked up to them, moving around the others to Grievous. "General, Yuan Shao's army has begun moving. Their heading right to the South Gate. The guards there are standing by for orders."

"Tell them to lock up, and fight to the death. I won't deploy additional forces for a gate that matters little. Everyone else, prepare for battle…it's time to claim this world entirely."

* * *

On the space station RE886, Huang Zhong had been relaxing in the main computer room of the station, leaning back in one of the chairs, whilst two of the GF troopers were standing around nearby, chatting to themselves.

"You know, it's creepy having that Overmind around on this station. I can't help but feel like we're being constantly watched whenever we have to do guard duty down there…"

"Yeah. I know what you mean. We're suppose to have our lunch breaks while posted there, but I can't eat knowing his so close by…"

Huang Zhong was generally ignoring them, after noticing that there was a communication confirming that Grievous has made it to Gaia IX, and Keaton was soon arriving to Earth X. The rebellions across the other worlds were now in full swing. He then batted an eye at another computers display, which showed a map of the space station, and had a flashing white dot, which signified where Chaos currently was. Still down in the power core section.

There hasn't been any notices on hack attempts, and the once in a while beep from the machine was a confirmation from the guards on that level that Chaos was still there, so Huang Zhong is just accepting it as Chaos taking his sweet time.

He wasn't a fool, he told them to sound the alarm if Chaos suddenly tried anything stupid.

Well….He tries to not be a fool anyway.

It's just that Chaos had set up a pre-determined setting on a computer down on that level to keep sending the signal that means his still here. And pretty much used the power core computer to 'blind' the upper level networks with pre-set information.

That information being the arrival of the main forces, the rebellions, Chaos still being in the power core room, and eventually signals saying of victories across the worlds.

All a complete lie, something Huang Zhong would easily be able to figure out, if he bothered to check.

As for the once, guards, of the level Chaos is suppose to be one they're, here, there, and everywhere, their blood painting the floors and walls, fragments of bone spread nicely across the ground…

And Chaos was gone.

He had located what he wanted from the computers, and teleported himself without anyone else noticing, to a set of coordinates only a few light years away from the system that Gaia VII was in.

To the position, of where Unicron's head, now was.

* * *

Boy, was this the worst day of the lives of the guards watching the South Gate. It had been a mere two hours since the battle started.

First, they saw the airships coming, carrying cannons, armed and loaded, and already opening fire at the gate itself, blasting holes into it, and from below, they saw the five thousand riders rushing towards the gate, at least three thousand of them were carrying the energy crossbows, and firing upwards at the guards on the gate walls, while the spearman, led by the three champion generals Yan, Wen and Hua, just…simply ran down the guards posted outside the gate at the bottom. They never stood a chance, their few shots with their rifles mostly missed, before they found themselves impaled.

The ones remaining on the wall kept themselves hidden, using their rifles to fire mostly at the airships to stop them from blowing holes in the gate. The artillery cannons on the gate were also being aimed, ready to destroy those airships…

Except they forgot that those military bikes are quit versatile.

By yanking it the front part upwards so the bike was just using the rear anti gravity energy circle, and briefly turning off the front one, then back on just before making contact to a wall, it could adjust and instead allow the rider to drive UP the wall.

Hua Xiong, Yan Liang and Wen Chou all done this. They managed to avoid the cannon fire as they headed upwards, their vibrospears at the ready, as they flew up over the wall, into the air, and by using the booster, they managed to aim themselves above the top of the gate, and Hua Xiong jumped off his bike, bellowing out "KAZAN KOUGAI KOHOU!"

It was a technique from Earth V's fighting arts. Translated to Galactic Basic, it meant ' Steel Armor'. in practice, as those of the South Gate soon realized, is that Hua Xiong's skin seemed to very briefly glow multiple colours, before he turned into a steel blue colour, steam seemingly coming off him for a moment, before he smashed right into the ground, landing perfectly on his feet, causing an indent as he landed.

The guards quickly aimed and opened fire, their energy bullets and machine gun bullets seemingly, to their horror, bouncing off the warrior's skin, as he slowly stood up, grinning menacingly at them, hinted they were pretty much fucked now.

And they were the ones who got that guy, others further back of the gate, got Yan Liang and Wen Chou, who had both shouted out, as were coming down on their bikes, holding their spears ready, "MUSOU!"

It pretty much allowed them to rip through people like a sharp knife through butter, whilst they were covered in a yellow aura. The troops could hardly react, as they saw their comrades blood and guts fly all over the place, as the two bike riders rode on through, seemingly unstoppable.

The last screams of the guards on the gate went through the com-link of Grievous, as he stood in the open plains, listening carefully, as one guard managed to describe what was going on.

"General Grievous! We're being slaughtered! Unable to use artillery cannons! Airships still firing on gate! Our numbers are almost gone! Three warriors of Earth V! Two with a yellow aura, riding around on hover bikes! Third seems to be made of- Goddamnit keep shooting him! SHOOT HIM! Third one seems to have turned his skin into goddamn steel! Our weapons can't-DON'T LET HIM GET CLOSER! DON'T GGGAA-"

Then silence.

The cyborg seemed to think for a while, and soon deduced it. "Steel skin. I've had of a man who knows such a ability. Vassal of king Dong Zhuo. The other two, it can only be the ones that Yuan Shao used to boast about so proudly, Yan Liang and Wen Chou…so his champions are leading the charge…all the better to break their morale with."

Over where Yuan Shao was, who was currently looking over his newly built armoury, as it was finally nearly done, he had just seen Guo Tu walk up to him, and explained to him about the news from the front so far.

He was quite overjoyed. "Hah! And Grievous refuses to move his forces in to assist as the gate is about to fall to us? Excellent! No doubt we have him quaking on his rusty cyborg feet! Inform the three to continue their charge once they've taken over the gate and opened it for all of our forces! Tell Cid to call back his ships, they are no longer required! We'll smash through Grievous's line of the defence and storm Alexandria!"

"Sir, we also have information that Cao Cao forces have yet to move to the North Gate, should I prompt him to do so now?" Guo Tu asked.

"No No, allow him to decide himself when to move. If he does not wish to gain some glory from this slaughter, then so be it. I'll be the one the Galactic Federation remnants will never forget!"

* * *

And as for Chad?

He sat there, on the mountain side.

He was looking at the South Gate, noticing the airships were now backing off, and the fighting on top of the gate was starting to calm down….well…less screams of pain and terror anyway, and gunfire.

He sat there, looking annoyed, and bored, sitting on a small patch of grass, on a small bit of flat land on this mountain. He climbed up here to get a better look at what was going on so he could report back.

Every time he did say anything about the fighting, no one bothered to reply on the com-link. He really felt kinda just tossed to the side of all this. "This is bullshit…should've stayed at home and hanged around with Anna instead of saying yes to this…"

Then, he noticed that every single pathway through the south gate, begun to reopen, obviously meaning someone had got the mechanism to allow the troops to go on through, as he noticed the bikers quickly restarting their machines to get going. He sighed, and stood up, transforming into his Mobian, before getting the com-link out. "Hey Yuan Shao, want me to move up with the frontline?"

No response.

"Right-o." with that, he set off…he knew he needed to have a word with Yuan Shao after this.

* * *

Terra, watching at the North Gate meanwhile, had been constantly asking for updates, from the observatory, and from Grievous.

From Grievous, he asked about the battle at the South Gate, hearing the reports that it quickly got overwhelmed and the enemy are bound to get through shortly.

From the observatory of Dali, He wondered about beyond the North Gate, about Burmecia, and of Cao Cao's army, which had made a rather large camp site outside the city, flags raised and such to show it was occupied…according to them, Cao Cao's force has not moved an inch from their position.

That concerned the Keyblade warrior, noticing the fact that the northern plains had a decent fog over them currently, especially beyond the North Gate…he wondered if Cao Cao was up to something.

He got in contact with Grievous once again. "General. Cao Cao hasn't moved still. There's no sign of any units coming my way."

"Excellent. I'm ordering all forces in Dali to move out and prepare for the three way ambush, the South Gate has begun to open up."

Terra quickly got concerned at that. "But general, that'll leave the observatory empty. I'll have to just watch from my own position, and I can't see much right now."

The cyborg reassured him. "Cao Cao is a man of intelligence. He knows what type of opponents to fight and who to keep back from. I've overheard his com channel recently, and whenever Yuan Shao has ordered an advance, Cao Cao has told his men to stand down…it is obvious he will simply watch and see who can win this."

Terra wasn't convinced, but waited as Grievous continued. "You will stay put and keep an eye out. I'm going to divert all other available forces to the South Gate. I trust you will contact me the moment Cao Cao shows himself?"

"…Yes sir." With that, Terra put away his com-link. He still couldn't shake off the feeling…

He looked to his troops. "…Inform everyone. We're moving out into the plains and moving towards Burmecia. That's our order from Grievous."

The men nodded, and in unison responded with "Sir yes sir!" before heading off to inform the others, as Terra turned and looked to the misty lands beyond.

"'Cao Cao is a man of intelligence'…if his smart enough, he'll be trying to sneak up on us with this…"

Terra and his troops soon slowly moved out of the gate, and headed into the misty plains, with the Keyblader taking the lead, and his three thousand strong troops staying close to him, keeping a keen eye out of anything that moves.

The ground was moist, and their feet trudging through it, as they had the noises of the strange animals and beings on this planet, and seeing, now and then, the odd Chocobo or the odd flan like monster close by or even some rather large, green numerous tentacle creatures with massive maws, all of them quickly fled into the mist the moment they saw the small army.

Burmecia wasn't that far away, from what Terra recalled. It shouldn't take long to get to the city and see about Cao Cao. Terra begun to think about what would happen if Cao Cao is still there…Should he try to battle the man? Should he try and reason with him to defect to the Galactic Federation? The fact was he only had three thousand, and it's possible Cao Cao has tens of thousands.

Terra begun to quickly think moving out of the Gate was a bad idea, but, he was out here now, and he was determined to find out what this man from Earth V was playing at.

Soon, Terra begun to feel that maybe he was lost. He was sure this city of rats wasn't that far, the troopers were starting to get anxious. "Sir, maybe we should turn back…"

"Sir, perhaps we should fall back and inform Grievous that the risk is too great to openly move around here…"

But, their concerns were soon eased, as they saw poles with flags in the distance within the mist, and an outline of a wooden wall.

Terra quickly hinted to his men to quiet down, as they slowly march closer, trying to lessen their noise as much as possible, as the flags became visible, showing they were Blue, and had the word imprinted onto them, 'Wei'. the wooden wall was the outer defence for the camp Cao Cao had set up, and the gates were sealed shut leading into the place, as Terra noticed.

But something else was noticeable as well, something that alarmed him as he motioned at his men to stop moving.

Terra added something up…Now they saw Yuan Shao have transport ships designed to carry a large amount of construction gear to create the armoury as quickly as possible to house the communication tech and weapon supplies.

The reports from the observatory never said the same for Cao Cao's forces. It was just a military deployment…so how did he create a full on camp, complete with fortifications and flags so fast without the tools needed from the Federation to do so in a rapid pace?

Terra then noticed one other thing….this camp, even at this distance, was unusually quiet as well.

He turned to his men. "Your visors have life sign scanners right?"

One of the men nodded. "Yes sir."

"Start scanning ahead, see if you pick up anything."

A few of the troopers did, their blue visors turning green as they begun a scan. "…Sir, nothing is coming up. It could be jamming technology in place. This is a battlefield after all, maybe the enemy don't want this to know of their numbers waiting for us inside and-"

Terra knew now. "…It's a decoy! Cao Cao's forces aren't here! All units! Back to the North Gate now! Double time people!"

His entire force quickly turned around and beat feet, rushing back as quickly as they possibly could towards the North Gate.

As they were, that's when Terra's fears were confirmed.

His force quickly noticed a group of possibly two thousand anthropomorphic rats, wearing knightly type armor, carrying spears and lances alike, chasing after them, coming from the depths of the mist, led by a female one, that had greyish-white fur, wore a red hat with metal wings on the side of it, a red long coat that bore the coat of arms of the Burmecian people on the front, wore orange leather trousers that seemed to go down to her knees, and leathers straps, that wrapped round her legs and feet, down to her toes. She had green eyes, and white hair, which was of medium length. This was Freya Crescent, who demanded, as Terra saw her "Keyblader! Stand and fight me!"

He didn't bother. He ordered his troops to fire the odd shot at the enemy, but focus on their retreat back and not to directly engage.

A second wave was soon giving chase out of the mist, this time led by Jak, a group of two thousand crossbow troopers. "Terra! Is running all you keybladers are good for?!"

Still he told his men to focus on getting back, despite the fact they were now being shot down, several of his men perishing at a time from wave after wave of energy arrows flying out of those crossbows.

Finally, a third group joined in, coming out from the mist, an additional four thousand swordsman, led by Link. "There's no point resisting anymore!"

Terra yelled at his men to just keep pushing on. They had to get back. There was no stopping. Once they got back inside the gate, it would be a simply case of sealing all entrances, and fighting from the top of the gate, holding out…then all he would have to do is warn Grievous, and reinforcements would come and break the siege.

…It was too late.

As they saw the outline of the gate, there before them…at least thirteen thousand men and women of the Wei army…amongst them, Sun Shang Xiang and Xiahou Yuan with their bows ready, along with around three thousand crossbowmen and the rest, spearmen and swordsmen, all aiming towards Terra's tiny force, which had around 2,500 remaining after the chase…

Terra heard the chasers catching up. "Men, cease fire, but hold your ground, circle together and hold."

His men did as they were told, huddling together, as the chasers slowly spread their men around to join up with those at the gate, creating a complete circle around Terras, the crossbow unit of Jaks had stopped firing when they noticed Terra's men had stopped.

Xiahou Yuan watched, as everything fell quiet between both sides, before walking towards Terra, slowly. "Terra, Cao Cao wants to see you, if you could come with me. Relax, your boys won't be harmed for now, we promise."

Terra glared, looking at the podgy man for a while, before he nodded, and lowered his Keyblade.

Soon he found himself being led back up to the top of the gate, where he stood before he committed to this fatal mistake, and standing there now, having turned around, and looked to Terra, was Cao Cao. With him on his left, Xiahou Dun, and to his right, another Burmecian, this one wearing a large leather hat with two holes for his ears, having the same fur colour as Freya, a green a yellow bulky looking long sleeved jacket, with bulky green trousers, which went down to his feet, and a black shirt underneath his jacket. He had the same whitish hair as Freya, but had blue eyes instead of green, and was slightly taller, carrying a red halberd. This was Attorei Fratley, or as he was called by his people, Sir Fratley.

Behind Terra, was Xiahou Yuan. "Here he is Cao Cao."

Cao Cao nodded at Yuan, then focused back to Terra. "So, you're the leader of the guard here…I must admit, I expected this 'Terra' to be older."

"Tch, was that suppose to insult me?" the Keyblader answered.

"Not at all." The Wei King walked down towards Terra, keeping his blade in it's sheath. "Youngsters normally don't think so fast as you did. I had Freya, Link and Jak prepare to ambush you, once you went inside our false camp. Instead you quickly deduced what was going and attempted to retreat back. The sudden retreat, and the refusal to attack your chasers head on, gave way to the fact you knew my plan at that moment."

He stepped past Terra, walking over to the other side of the wall, looking over to the plains that belonged to the kingdom of Alexandria. "But you showed you did not think this over correctly. You knew there was a loss of sight thanks to the mist. Did it not occur to you to check around the perimeter of the gate first? You would've found us much sooner if you did. Instead you want straight to my camp, as I expected."

Terra noticed Xiahou Yuan had stood back, giving Terra a little space, allowing the Keyblader to walk over towards Cao Cao. "You knew I would move. How?"

"Albert Wily has been tracking all communications since the invasion begun, I just asked him to track anyone that was listening in on my frequency."

"…As Grievous was."

"Then I heard about the amount of men, what places you were using…he explains a lot to his men, that's good. Then of course, I decided to throw around some 'information' myself."

"Your words with Yuan Shao."

Cao Cao nodded. "I've yet to actually speak with Yuan Shao. I knew claiming I wasn't going to move would ease Grievous's concern over this gate. Once I had done that, I moved my men, with the aid of the Burmecians, to the gate, whilst keeping an open path to my decoy camp should you move…it took a little while, but you finally showed yourself…despite what Grievous said, you disobeyed and moved."

Terra looked to stone floor, cursing himself a little.

Cao Cao could only smile at overhearing it. "Don't judge yourself too harshly. You did what was right, and try to figure out the enemy ploy. Perhaps next time you should see to your back first, leave a reserve force at least, before pressing on."

The Wei leader looked to the kingdom beyond. "Speaking of pressing on, my next target is to be Alexandria…but, I require your direct assistance."

Terra listened.

"In that city is the armoury of General Grievous. To him right now, he believes his west side and rear are both secure. The North Gate and Alexandria. I want that illusion to remain until we take that city. We'll then launch a three way attack, and with his supplies belonging to us, the city over on our side, and letting Yuan Shao know of this, Grievous will be hard pressed to remain on this planet. He plans to use a three way attack on Yuan Shao…I wonder what his reaction would be, if we done the same back to him, just on a larger scale."

"But, the only way to get in, is to pretend to be members of the Galactic Federation. To wear the suits, to match the frequency of the communication…and have someone who is an ally of theirs leading us." with that, he was obviously hinting to Terra.

Terra knew this. "Why would I help you?"

"Because you're smart enough to know the odds. You know this plan will bring us a victory here on Gaia IX, and ensure that Grievous does not forget this day."

Terra glared at the King of Wei. "I joined my master Eraqus and Grievous to fight against the Shinra Federation. I won't work for them, and nor would my men."

"You won't be. You'll be working for me, for the Hero Base Faction. You have no need to hold any ties to the Shinra, only to us…Think of it like this, the Shinra Federation knows about this entire invasion plan of the Galactic, they know of Keatons numbers, they know of his base locations…tell me, what are the odds of success, if your enemy knows everything about you? Wouldn't it be wise to live to see tomorrow, instead of the end of today?" With this, Cao Cao walked up towards the Keyblader.

"…I have friends who are working for the GF."

Cao had stopped a few steps away from Terra, and slowly, put his hand out towards the lad. "With you by my side, I will do all that I can to help them see the truth, the inevitable outcome. Will you join me, to at least, try?"

…Terra gave in, sighing deeply, not sure if he was going to regret this choice. "I'll, inform my men to remove their armor and hand it over to you…"

* * *

The South Gate was fully opened.

Riding out in front of the charging army of Yuan Shao, was Yan Liang, Hua Xiong, his skin back to normal and with a replacement bike, and Wen Chou. Behind them, five thousand strong men and women, wielding their crossbows and vibrospears, cheering as they rode on, morale at an all time high.

"Hahaha! Taking that was a piece of cake! These Galactic Federation troopers are nothing to be concerned over, they bleed just as easily as the Yellow Turbans!" Yan Liang had look over to his two partners.

Wen Chou had been looking ahead, and seemed surprised for a moment, spotting something, before looking to Yan. "Well I hope you're ready for more! The bigger battle is about to commence!"

Yan Liang looked ahead now, and noticed, around seven thousand odd Galactic Federation troopers, all standing in the plains beyond the mountainsides that are currently encasing Yuan Shao's forces in from beyond the gate.

He just smiled. "Excellent, a real fight on our hands! CROSSBOW UNIT, GET YOUR SWORDS READY FOR A CHARGE! SPEARMEN, FOLLOW UP!"

Over to where the GF men were, standing in line with them, was Dark Rich, hearing one of the troopers speak to him. "S-Sir, it's the three champions of Earth V, their about to charge with their bike unit. Perhaps we should split into two and allow them to pass in the middle of us-"

"We're staying right where we are. I want all men lined up, in rows, to the width of the passageway. Then I want all of you to adjust your rifles for constant rapid firing until their energy cells are depleted." The clone of the human Overmind just stared ahead as he spoke.

"Sir, but-"

"Then when the front line has depleted their cell, they are to move right to the back and allow the second row forward, to waste their energy cells, then rinse and repeat, allowing each wave to reload their rifles safely, and keep up the fire power. We will be the wall blocking Yuan's army, as our side forces come in and crush them."

The trooper wasn't sure about it still. "But sir, they are the champions-"

"Earth V warriors use their fame and valor to strike fear. Show none, and their effort is for naught. Understood? Now get started, I presume we have only a few minutes before they arrive." All the clone had to do after, was briefly glance at the soldier, and that was enough, as the man saluted him, and started yelling at the troops to quickly get organized.

Hua Xiong noticed the sudden moving going on in the enemy ranks, slowing down his bike a fair bit, causing Yan Liang, Wen Chou and their army to do the same. "Hold on, they're up to something…" He looked around, noticing the cliff sides to the left and right of them, sloped in a way that it would be possible for people to move down if they were careful enough.

"What's the matter Hua? We've got them now! It doesn't matter what formation they come up with! A charge will break them!" Wen Chou was eager to speed things up.

"The enemy are numerous, and Grievous is meant to be an effective military commander….remember, we're not entirely used to all this new tech, especially rifles…" Hua Xiong warned.

"You worry over nothing! All they've done is lined themselves up!" Yan Liang pointed out…which, the enemy have done, lined up in such a firm, organized way, blocking the way out of this passage. "This makes it easier! Let's get this done and go home!"

With that, he sped his bike up, as did Wen, and eventually so did Hua, along with the rest of their biker unit, heading straight of the enemy's line.

The hail of yellow energy bullets suddenly rushing at them all changed their tune.

The three officers were trying to avoid each shot, but often, the odd shot would barely miss them, or just get deflected away by their weapons…their men weren't so lucky, dozens and dozens were being shot down, their weak shielding and armor being pieced through, or their bikes being struck enough times for them to either explode, or shut down and crash, both ways normally killing their drivers.

It was enough to turn their charge into a mess of confusion and chaos.

The officer that served Dong Zhuo knocked another stray shot away, as he looked back to the South Gate, noticing that one of the major waves of Yuan Shao's army, carrying vibroswords, vibrospears and shields were beginning to march through. "Everyone! Calm down and regroup! Prepare to charge again! We need to clear a path for our main unit! Simply try to keep dodging as we rush their formation and-!" He stopped, looking to the cliffs again.

He now knew they were in trouble.

Waves of Galactic Federation troopers, carrying their rifles in one hand, and huge riot steel shields in the other, begun to slowly march down, having activated their gravity boots to easily take a slow march down without any risk of falling, a standard state of equipment for those power suits.

They were keeping their shields over the front of themselves, firing a few bullets at a time, keeping in a sort of line as they came down on both sides. It caused those that had crossbows whilst riding the bikes to get them out and open fire, but the shields were easily deflecting the shots.

It only got worse after that, as Dark Rich's unit and their constant firing had depleted the bike forces numbers. One of them managed to get close to the front lines of the GF, but the clone had quickly moved in front of the biker, and in one slash, and a kick, the rider was hacked down, and his body knocked off the hover bike, which Dark Rich had quickly got on, and turned it around, charging now into the mess that was Yuan Shao's frontal forces.

* * *

Chad had managed, meanwhile, to get on top of the South Gate, and over to the side of it, looking out to the chaos beyond, noticing that, things have just gone to shit. "…By the name of Blind Lo…" He quickly got on his com-link. "Guo Tu! We need to tell the three guys up front to retreat and rethink our movements! The bike guys are getting slaughtered left right and center!"

No answer.

"Oh come on! I know you can hear me Goddamnit! They're being hit by a three way strike in a narrow passage just beyond the South Gate!"

There was an answer now. "I was just informing Yuan Shao. He wishes for them to press on. Their skill can easily help them get out of this little ambush tactic."

Chad wasn't sure if Yuan Shao could be this stupid. It wasn't a little ambush, it was a major movement that had the GF with the advantage. He looked over to the cliffs, to see if he could spot, what could be seen, as a commander…perhaps if he could sneak up on him…

He saw someone alright, and it wasn't a 'him'. he saw Kei Yuki, wearing a light set of GF armor. It was coloured dark blue, and was built in more humanoid curve and shape, compared to the standard bulky edition. She wasn't wearing a helmet, letting her hair free, as she watched the battle below from the cliff.

He could see her face, her eyes…He could picture the body already. "Goddamn, why the heck does the Galactic Fed get the hot chick officers?"

Chad then looked to wherever she was looking at, and saw what was going on now, in the midst of the battle. Wen Chou, Yan Liang and Hua Xiong were caught up fighting just one guy, who was on a bike, hovering there, using his blade to deflect each of their blows from their spears as they circled around him to try and find a weak spot.

Dark Rich had announced himself as the commanding officer, luring at first, Yan Liang to take him on, then Wen Chou quickly joined in, thinking two should be enough…but they struggled, they had small cuts on their arms and chests, showing Dark had managed to strike them a few times, then came along Hua Xiong, who just now got stabbed in the shoulder as he circled round and missed the clone again, the vibrosword slicing in deep as he passed.

Chad looked at the clone, and could feel something familiar off it, even from this distance…a feeling that called to him, a yearn to fight…

He quickly changed into his Mobian form, and jumped off the top of the gate, spinning towards the ground.

* * *

Hua Xiong meanwhile, had moved away from the three way attack him, Yan and Wen tried, having now got stabbed in the left side of his hip, blood flowing from the wound. Yan Liang and Wen Chou eventually broke off and joined him, they had their own wounds leaking of blood. "Shit, this guy ain't normal…"

Dark Rich, meanwhile, had turned his bike towards them, holding out the vibrosword, ready, watching all three. "What's the matter? I thought the warriors of Earth V were suppose to be something special."

Hua Xiong looked to his allies. "Did you guys even pick up on a weakness? What about his blindside?" he motioned at the eye patch, which caused Dark Rich to smirk.

"His too good. He's like Xiahou Dun, his mastered the use of just one eye, I tried to attack him that direction several times…got wounds to prove the failures." Wen Chou looked ashamed saying that.

"…I don't want to be the one to suggest this, but our forces are pretty much routed already…we have to back off and recover." Yan Liang made his bike go in reverse a little, to show what he meant to the others.

Wen Chou nodded in agreement. "Yuan Shao won't be happy with us…but this is a battle for the Shinra Federation, not for our lord. If this was our world then…"He didn't finish. Instead he glared at Dark Rich, before turning his bike right around, and zooming off back to the South Gate.

Yan Liang looked to Hua Xiong, then turned around as well, shooting off back the way they came, leaving Hua Xiong staring down Dark Rich.

"You know you've been bested. Don't think you can intimidate me after that poor excuse of a fight." The clone pointed his blade towards the wounded warrior.

He had to quickly move the blade shortly after this though, as a red blur seemed to just spring up before him, spinning for half a second, before it had a blade out, and took a swing at him. He managed to block with his own sword, and saw that it was Chad, briefly staying in the air, his sword connected to Dark Rich's, before the clone pushed him away, making Chad land in front of him.

"What's this? A little stray Mobian out on the battlefield?" Dark Rich mocked, aiming his blade at Chad now…but something about the Mobian seemed to catch his attention.

The deep blue eyes…

As Chad noticed, it gave the clone pause. He quickly turned to Hua Xiong. "Hey! Get out of here and recover! I'll take care of him!"

Hua Xiong knew with his wounds, it was sound advice, finally leaving the frontlines, and leaving Chad to confront the clone.

For Dark Rich, the world seemed to slow down. Those eyes were so familiar to him…no, so was the body, the red hedgehog… "Change. Now."

"I'm sorry?" Chad was a little perplexed by this.

"Change into your human form. I'd rather fight a man then an animal." Dark Rich glared at Chad whilst speaking this.

Chad decided to agree to this, and quickly changed back into his human form, still holding his sword ready, in the midst of the carnage of the fighting.

The clone went into a state of shock, seeing Chad's human form. Memories, memories of a time before flooded back to him…not of the one he was created from though…even further back, back to times that no longer existed. He was seeing visions of this world, this very battle…over and over again, only eventually managing to focus his mind and see the actual current Chad before him. "…Chad Malyan…the brother to, her…"

"What?"

Dark Rich slowly got off the hover bike. "We've been here before, you and I. This battlefield, this day…this civil war. Seven times before….how strange. The immense pressure building on my mind, yet I can understand what's been shown to me. You…kill me, here. You're suppose to kill me, here."

The lad just looked lost at all this, but with the last bit the clone said, he got into his battle stance. "Well if that's how it's meant to go then!" with that, he charged forward.

That was a grave mistake.

* * *

"How much longer before my officers arrive Guo Tu?" Yuan Shao was pacing a little back and forth, his impatience beginning to show itself.

Guo Tu checked a data pad he was carrying. "We're in luck my lord, the transport ships have managed to keep a decent speed despite the risks of being attacked, and should be here within the hour."

"Good, good. I want this all done quickly now. The idea of rubbing it in Keaton's face is one I do not want to keep on hold." The ex-High Minister answered with, looking up to the skies above. "I don't want it to be a case of we get done after everyone else. I want to be the one to claim the first victory against the Galactic Federation. I want it to be known of my armies superiority. I want Cao Cao to be in awe of what we can do."

When he stopped gazing up to the sky, and return to looking at the land around him…something shot by him, making him jump, and just see the back of the person, who was on a hover bike. "…Was that Wen Chou?"

Another bike went by, this time a little bit further away, so it didn't scare the crap outta him. "Y-Yan Liang!? Why, why are my men retreating to the rear lines?! Guo Tu! Explain!"

His adviser wasn't sure what to say, but quickly got on the com-link. "Hua Xiong! Chad! What's going on out there? Why are our champions retreating!?"

He got his answer. Hua Xiong had just ridden up, slowing down as he approached. "An officer under Grievous's command. He was too much for the three of us. We need to get patched up."

Yuan Shao stormed over to him. "All three of you have been made to withdraw?! Then, then who's leading the front!? Who's the inspiration out there making sure our front lines don't crumble?!"

"Chad is currently handling the officer."

The minister thought about this for a moment. "I see…Well I suppose if you three cannot handle it, I'm sure the Unicron slayer can. Very well, go and recover. Guo Tu! Inform Ryu and Ken to leave the armoury and join the army marching to the South Gate. We need men our forces can look up to, and if a couple of street fighters is all we have for now while Chad is busy, then it will have to do!"

* * *

It was while this was going on, a small unit was leaving the North gate, no more then around two thousand five hundred men, all wearing Galactic Federation power armor, led by Terra, marching towards Alexandria.

This part of the plains was relatively empty now, as Grievous had pushed his men towards the South Gate, leaving only the odd roaming creature, that knew better then to stick around with so many marching.

Terra had looked over towards the south and could just barely see the rear unit of Grievous's army. "…Our first time working together, and he really did expect me to hold out against you by myself, Cao Cao…"

One of those hidden in a power suit, was the king of Wei. "No doubt he has an knack to be able to value his officers so well. It's a shame he chose to underestimate me, no doubt because of the planet I'm from. He could learn from your sense of weariness towards your enemies."

"It's probably his experience makes him a little arrogant."

"Most likely…hmm, that reminds me." Cao Cao then turned to his men. "Troops! I want three teams split from us! Two one hundreds, and a three hundred team! I want you all to go within Grievous's ranks and divide up! Once you have blended in, open fire!"

Their entire force came to a stop for a moment, before three small teams were broken off, and did as they were told, surprising Terra, as they begun to move on, leaving those troops, as he knew, to no doubt die. "Cao Cao…They won't survive. You just told them to march to their deaths, for little reason."

Cao Cao looked to him. "For little reason?"

Terra couldn't see much from the visor, but felt that Cao Cao was saying that in a way that meant 'think carefully about it'…and it soon hit Terra. "You sent them to cause mass confusion. Because Grievous's men won't be able to tell the difference. It'll make them doubt one another, most likely easing their willingness to march on."

"Giving Yuan Shao time to hold out while we deal with the enemy supplies. I know Yuan Shao, by now he needs all the help we can get to endure."

The Keyblader looked surprised. "The man has around seventy thousand men. Surely he can't struggle against the meager army we've brought here."

"You'd be surprised how badly Yuan Shao and his army's spirit can drop over simple matters. Yuan Shao panics the moment something goes wrong, he cannot motivate his forces when his all in a flutter."

* * *

Chad screamed out, the vibrosword had penetrated his abdomen.

He couldn't even lay a finger on this person. The guy was now standing in front of Chad looking emotionless, as he looked down to the wound he caused, pulling his blade back afterwards, allowing Chad to hold his hand over the wound and take a few steps back.

His arms were cut open, he had several slashes across his chest, managing to ease the bleeding with recovery chips, which he has already run out of now, and due to using around ten of them, he couldn't really focus, he was, as Medi warned before what too many or too powerful of a dose can do, made him high slightly. His senses were warped, and his body felt a little num…the stomach stab forced him back to the real world.

He couldn't win either. Like the three before, he couldn't beat this guy. He was a lethal swordsman. He had weight behind his deceptive light looking sword swings, enough to always knock Chad off his guard, and the use of battle chips didn't help, as the guy seemed to recognize a fair amount of them, and knew how to avoid such. The Chaos beam just missed when Chad used it, but after one lucky miss, the guy managed to dodge it since.

Dark Rich knew Chad was done now. " You're just like the others. You can't defeat me. Strange how this has changed. All because of a sudden recall."

"I don't…understand…we've never fought before, we've never met. But you claimed I was suppose to kill you like those other times, yet, now…" Chad took a few more steps back. God his stomach was bugging him about this wound, like the rest of his body was complaining about theirs.

"Those other times. I never remembered you. I died, several times, thanks to you. She was suppose to look over me as I draw my last breath. Instead I knew you and your skills, besides that red energy beam. Now she has no reason to come down. Things have changed….leave."

Chad looked surprised.

"You and her are to meet. She needs to know who you are. This much the past is telling me…what the previous cycles, are telling me."

"The, previous, cycles?"

Dark Rich looked away, at the stray hover bike he had left there, surprised no one managed to shoot it yet, and went over, climbing on. "If you cannot best me, then there is no one in that army for me to enjoy battling. I'll take my leave, Malyan." With that, he rode off, into the ranks of Grievous's army, several dozen of them surprised at their constantly victorious leader suddenly backing out.

Chad noticed then, he was a prime target now, as the GF troopers aimed his direction. "Shit shit shit CHAOS CONTROL!" he vanished, in a flash of red, just as several energy shots flew by where he was, and reappeared, close to the South Gate, to the side of the gateway itself, as Yuan Shao's army poured through charging into the three way assault. "Shit….Damnit…Gotta get more recovery chips…armoury probably has some. Gotta tell Guo Tu the bad news." with that, he got on the com-link.

* * *

…..It didn't go down well.

"Chad has been driven back as well!?" Yuan Shao in a slightly higher pitch then he normally talks.

"I'm sorry sir, but he has been wounded badly, and requires recovery chips. Thankfully the threat of that officer who attacked them has retreated for the moment, although he was not wounded in the conflict." Guo Tu really didn't want to be the bearer of bad news right now.

"No harm to him, but he wounded four of our fine men? And our bike force has been destroyed? AND we're currently being struck in three directions at the frontlines?"

Guo Tu nodded to each question.

"We need to halt our advance! Guo Tu, slow the march! Defensive measures! No wait! We need to commit a counterattack! But without a reasonable figure to lead my men won't be motivated, no, we need to charge head on! Tell all possible units to increase their speed through the South Gate! Wait don't!"

This is what Guo Tu feared, his lord panicking. "Lord Yuan Shao you must focus! Our men need straight, plain orders now our officers have been routed at the front! I suggest we hole ourselves up in the South Gate and begin to regroup our forces. No doubt the loss of our frontal attack has hurt our mens morale."

"Bah, what do you know about what to do in this situation! I got a better idea! Tell them to keep charging! It's the only option when we have such numbers in our favour!" Yuan Shao wasn't a smart man with planning or ideas. Guo Tu knew this, but, he knew Yuan Shao would also fail to see logic…Guan Du had truly left a mark on him. He refused his advisers then, and was doing it now. He was determined to show he was in charge of everything going on, but yet…

"…Yes my lord. But the men will lose favour towards you should they be unable to break through the movement of the enemy."

"Just do as I say Guo Tu! We'll keep attacking until the rest of my officers arrive!"

* * *

"Excellent, Yuan Shao's army is trying to increase it's pace after the loss of it's front. It's obvious the man is desperate. All units, keep the pressure on them. They'll break soon enough."

The voice was of Grievous, what was overheard in Cao Cao's helmet.

"Yuan Shao is losing his cool…that most certainly means as Grievous said. Hua Xiong, Yan Liang and Wen Chou have been defeated. We have to climb around in order to get to Alexandria castle, right?" Cao Cao asked Terra.

He nodded. "Yeah, it'll take a while more. Let's hope your little inside attack gets started soon."

Terra then saw a bike heading off in the same direction they were going, up the steep hill that leads to Alexandria and Treno, except unlike them, the biker seemed to be heading to Treno. "Huh, seems like Grievous decided to send someone to call in reinforcements. Strange, he never said anything about it down the channel, has he?"

"Indeed he hasn't, which means he either has begun to figure out our intentions, or that's a rogue element we just saw."

Then, Terra's com-link had gone off. "Terra. This is Grievous. Report on the North Gate. How goes the matter with Cao Cao? Has he moved at all?"

Terra stopped for a moment, and looked over to Cao Cao. "…Nothing to report. Banners are still up, no movement out of his camp. His refusing to move anywhere despite what's going on down the South."

"It seems his old problems with the High Minister hasn't been put to rest. Good. Hold position. This will take a few hours due to current numbers, but once we've broken Yuan Shaos morale completely, we'll turn our focus to Cao Cao and the rat people of this planet, before finally crushing Lindblum." Grievous didn't sound smug when he said that, despite, by the way he put, victory was assured now.

"…Is there a problem sir?" Terra asked.

"Our numbers. Keaton was foolish. We're risking much for this, and he chooses to allow our forces to stay separated across the whole territory…I can see the men, those at the front are focused on the fighting, but the ones here in reserve, I can sense their fear and concern slowly growing. I'll contact the warships soon to report the goings on elsewhere, hopefully we'll have good news to feed around and calm the nerves. That clone of the Zerg boy hasn't been helpful on the men here, suddenly leaving his post…I'll deal with him later. Keep me notified if Cao Cao moves, Grievous out."

Terra lowered his com device, and noticed Cao Cao had removed his GF helmet, looking over to where Grievous's main force is, barely visible in the far distance. "…He looks for ways to bring strength to his men….and the warships we were given as transport to this world are naturally on the opposite side to keep out of weapons range…We need to delay the chances of hope."

* * *

Dark Rich, meanwhile, after a good ten or so minutes, reached Treno, and got to what he had wanted. Outside the city, were several dozen transport ships, being checked over and ready for take off should Grievous call a retreat.

The cyborg wasn't an idiot. He knew to have a escape route ready should things get ugly. He felt Treno was a more viable location for the ships, as Alexandria, though will fortified, would be a much more likely target of the enemy's should things turn their way.

The clone got off the bike, turning it off, and walked his way over to some of the engineer guys checking over the transports, heading to one guy who was busy seemingly scanning one of the said vessels, standing to the side of it. "Hey, you. Is this vessel flyable?"

The man who has been busy looking at his data pad turned to Dark Rich. "Oh, sir. Yes, yes it is. I was just making sure the energy output remained at an acceptable level should the general need to hurry-"

"You need to check inside. Grievous reported a possible saboteur roaming around in our ranks, and the general wants me to check every vessel, is that clear?"

The fella wanted to say 'well isn't it wise to inform everyone here so we can get it done quicker?'….but the cold look and the menacing appearance of this clone was enough to make him just go with it. The clone seemed like the all serious sort, and probably knew what he was doing. "Sure, whatever you say guy. I'll just open her up."

The engineer opened the transport door, and went inside, with Dark Rich following. "Well, I'll check around the pilot's area first, the most obvious spot for someone to fu-"

He felt a brief wave of pain, before his vision went from looking ahead, to the floor, and falling down, hitting it, rolling once, then finding himself looking at his body, lacking his head, as it fell down to the floor of the ship, and the clone left the ship.

It was a slow round of assassinations.

Dark Rich went over to each engineer team, sometimes they were alone, sometimes in up to groups of five, and done the same thing over and over to each the vessels they were watching over. They knew of who he was, and his appearance, each time, made them believe Grievous had him working with them. Some saw their fellows go in the ships, and don't come out, but seeing Dark Rich keep leaving and going to others, they thought he had them all working hard checking things over.

There were at least a hundred of these guys checking the ships, the guards were within Treno, and as fate would have it, they weren't manning the walls at this moment in time.

Finally, a lone transport vessel had lifted off, and headed back to the front lines, to the cliffs.

* * *

Yuan Shao was relieved.

A lone transport vessel, looking quite badly damaged, had arrived, and landed nearby, the markings obviously being SF, and when the hatches to it opened, out came the six he had been waiting for.

They were his youngest child, Yuan Shang, a boy of the age of twenty. Gao Gan, Yuan Shao's nephew. Xin Ping, a rather burly and large looking man. Lu Kang, weedy, and carrying a trident, Tian Feng, another advisor to Yuan Shao like Guo Tu, except he looked more well built, was in his thirties, had rather long brown hair, a decent length goatee and wearing black robes, carrying a sword.

Finally, there was the man Yuan Shao had been looking forward to the most. Out of the ship last…red in the face and stumbling a little, looking completely smashed, using his spear to keep balance, was Chunyu Qiong.

This guy was an old friend of both Yuan Shao and Cao Cao. He wore silver armor, with the torso segment of it having a Chinese dragon embedded into it, was about in his forties, had a small beard and moustache, brown eyes, and slightly tanned white skin.

"Ah, some of my finest officers! I'm shocked to see the transport in such a bad shape, what happened?" Yuan Shao walked over to them, arms outstretched in a welcoming manner.

"It seems our pilot did not realize what warships we were going past until it was too late, as it turned out they belonged to the Galactic Federation. He was killed, but luckily, Tian Feng had taken a keen interest in these vessels of the empires, and managed to get us away and down here before we could be killed." Yuan Shang explained, motioning to Tian Feng.

Yuan Shao quickly went over to him, and shook his hand. "Thank you, once again, you've proven some worth to my forces after Guan Du. I shall make sure to reward you after this is all done."

Tian just nodded. Guan Du…Yuan Shao blamed a chunk of it on him, despite the fact he was against the battle from the beginning, to the point Yuan Shao decided to slam him in prison. He was released after, and, like the other advisors, Ju Shou and Shen Pei, he was blamed for somehow contributing to the loss at Guan Du. Only goddamn Guo Tu was somehow left off the hook about it.

Yuan Shao then turned to Chunyu, who managed to finally stand up tall, as he noticed his lord was looking at him. "Ah Chunyu Qiong! Finally! You need to get to my armoury and begin guarding it with a man named T Hawk. Some brute from Earth X. I know I can trust your skill with this matter, can't I?"

Tian Feng looked horrified at Yuan Shao, then quickly looked over at Guo Tu, and soon walked over to the man, as Yuan Shao was busy speaking to the rather obvious drunk officer. "Guo Tu, in the name of the creation god Azrael, why did you let him appoint that drunk again?! I thought we were going to finally throw him at the front lines to make him sober up!"

Guo Tu looked a little confused, and looked over to Chunyu Qiong, as if finally noticing the obvious. "…Why is he drunk again?"

"When isn't he drunk? I've sent messages to Yuan Shao about getting help for this guy. He needs it. He decided to drink down a few bottles before we finally got here."

Guo Tu soon shrugged it off. "It's not like his alone guarding the armoury. We've got others there protecting it. And anyway, the focus of the battle is at the South Gate. We need to get things organized fast. Yuan Shao just let everyone charge while in one of his panic moments, got little idea what's happening out there right now."

"Well get us an update, get information from the communications we have, we need to know of enemy positions, numbers, and what equipment they have, as well as what we have and where everyone is."

Guo Tu nodded in agreement, and got on the communication device, as Chunyu Qiong saluted Yuan Shao and slowly walked his way to where the armoury was.

It had taken around thirty minutes of constant calls, but eventually, Tian Feng and Guo Tu had a pretty good picture of the battle so far, as the other officers that had arrived, along with Yuan Shao, gathered round, as Guo Tu explained everything.

"Well, according to the two guys we have up front, Ryu and Ken, from Earth X, who are currently holed up in the South Gate, we're being mowed down. The enemy are using energy rifles from three directions, pretty much making the outside of the South Gate a kill zone. Our melee troops are unable to get in range to do any real damage and break the three way thanks to the shower of bullets. So far we've lost around eighteen thousand troops, which is slowly increasing, and our frontal assault unit, the bikers, have all but been killed off. Yan Liang, Wen Chou and Hua Xiong have all fallen back to Lindblum due to wounding, and T Hawk, with Chunyu Qiong, are now currently defending our Armoury in the forest nearby."

Tian Feng continued it. "We know that Grievous is focused solely on us. His entire army seems to be aimed our way. Cao Cao is suppose to be on the battlefield, with the people known as Burmecians, but we cannot get in contact with him or them. They've gone silent. I'd hoped we could organize a two way assault to relieve our front and weaken the grip Grievous has on this kill zone his formed."

"Suggestions?" Yuan Shao looked to the two advisors.

"Call everyone back and seal up the South Gate. If we deploy around two to four thousand men and use the crossbows from the armoury, we can take up defensive measures there to halt the enemy advance while we reform our ranks and get our men motivated, as the constant charge has hurt their morale. Gao Gan would be best on leading the defence of the gate. We should also get the airships that Lindblum has. We'll use them to go through the South Gate, and open fire on the cliffs, the results will be two fold; the resulting rockfall will seriously hinder and damage Grievous's forces, and there will be little ground for the same kill zone trap to occur." Tian Feng had suggested.

Guo Tu looked to Tian, and just chuckled a little, shaking his head, before looking to his leader. "If you go on the defensive now, it'll break our men's morale entirely. They want a victory, and I know of a wise idea. The crossbows, as Tian said. We simply get them out to the men who can wield such. We stored over ten thousand away, let's get them all out, along with the with more advanced shield emitters we brought and stored away. If we give the shields to a frontal melee unit, and the crossbows to a rear unit, we can reform the ranks, and commence a charge, where the melee force soaks up the shots, and the crossbow troops take down the GF troopers while safe at the back."

Yuan Shao was certainly listening to Guo Tu, much to Tian's despair, as Guo Tu continued.

"Ten thousand of each, that's the amount we've got stored. Simple enough then isn't it lord Yuan Shao. We can easily form a twenty thousand shock force to push the frontlines, leading them will be Lu Kang, Yuan Shang and Xin Ping. While we prepare that, we keep sending people out to stop Grievous's forces from moving any closer to the gate. A sacrifice, but it will pay off. Gao Gan will go to the South Gate and work with Ryu and Ken give support fire, as no doubt the dead troopers on that gate must have had rifles, we collect, and use them. Chunyu Qiong and T Hawk remain at the armoury with no more then a thousand men, while the rest are focused on our glorious march."

"And you feel this plan will guarantee us a victory?"

Guo Tu proudly nodded. "No doubt about it, my lord. Grievous is content with our current situation…let's give him a surprise."

Tian Feng needed to argue against it. "Lord Yuan Shao you need to remember that Grievous is a being that can figure out the battlefield like Cao Cao can! He knows of the Federations technology much more then us, our men are still new to all this! If we form a shock force the way Guo Tu suggested, he'll know to focus one group on the melee segment, while the others target the crossbow troops and disable our long range! His men know they're winning, we need to go on a defensive stance and get the people of Lindblum to help, have those that live on this planet support us!"

It was too late, he knew that but he had to try. "Guo Tu obviously knows much more then you do for this situation Tian Feng. He has been here longer. Guo Tu, do what you must. Get my men back into gear and destroy Grievous!" Yuan Shao ordered.

* * *

"What do you mean our three front officers of the south have departed!?"

"It's Dark Rich sir. H-He just ordered Aqua to get on a transport ship he was driving, then picked up Kei Yuki as well before leaving the planet."

Grievous looked at the trooper. "Have you tried to hail him?"

"His refusing to answer sir. We went to see who allowed him to use a transport vessel without your permission and…all the engineers are dead."

Grievous snarled in annoyance at this, quickly getting on his com-link. "Grievous to Galactic vessel Gardener! Emergency command! A single transport ship belonging to us has left the planet! Intercept and bring in!"

"Captain Alex Shaunbe here sir, we're currently under fire from Shinra ships. We are unable to intercept. Once we've dealt with the enemy vessels, we'll begin pursuit."

"What of the current status of the battles across the Federation then? You must have some news by now!"

"Communications to the RE886 space station have been unanswered sir. We'll attempt to hail them again short-shor-sh-" The com-link went dead.

"Grr, first no updates of the battle progress, and now their being shot up enough that it's interfering with the communication channels…" the cyborg wasn't in a good mood now, and what made it worse, was a new call to his com-link.

"General! General! We just had a rebellion within our rear ranks!"

He quickly answered. "Of all the damn things-Report! Has it been suppressed? Estimated numbers?"

"I'm not sure general, but it was sudden huge shootout! Several dozen folk suddenly shouted 'For Shinra, For Rufus' and opened fire, and before we knew it there was gunfire all over the place! We've counted about one thousand six hundred bodies so far, and we've got groups of men trying to arrest those they think are inside defectors like the ones just now! It's causing more casualties!"

"I'll be right there to settle the matter myself!" He turned away from the trooper that had reported to him, and was about to leave, before turning back to the man. "You, go and inform Ventus it's time for the raid on the armoury. If what we heard from Yuan Shao's idiot of an advisor is true, then the armoury will soon have minimal guards while they attempt this stupid idea of a charge attack."

"Yes sir!"

* * *

Meanwhile, in Alexandria, Queen Garnet had heard of the arrival of Terra, and a guard of two thousand men outside their gates, wishing to enter and speak with the princess. Steiner, her loyal and trusted knight, along with Beatrix, both suggested she just let them in.

So she did. She sent her lover, Zidane, along with Vivi, to personally greet Terra and his men.

"Hey guy. Welcome to the city. What's up?" Was the greeting Terra got from the monkey boy as soon as the gates opened and let everyone in. the guard of Alexandria saluted Terra as he entered.

"I wish to speak to the queen on urgent matters, ordered from Grievous himself. Also an attachment of mine needs to check on the armoury." Terra answered.

"Hey, that's cool. Vivi, why don't you take Terra and some of his guys to see the princess while I take the others to their little set up camp?" Zidane turned to his black mage friend, who nodded.

"Sure. I can do that." He looked to Terra. "If you could come with me." and begun to walk off towards the castle.

"Alright, five hundred of you, with me, the rest, go with Zidane." Terra ordered.

His unit nodded, and did what they were told.

Terra walked with his troops down the winding streets of Alexandria…the population were nowhere to be seen, obviously choosing to try and stay indoors as much as possible while this fighting is going on, waiting for the storm to pass by, hoping and praying perhaps…

"Don't worry, if this goes off perfectly, they won't suffer at all." Cao Cao's voice was heard behind him, noticing Terra was looking at the houses as they went on.

Eventually, the grand castle was there before them, and they were walking over the drawbridge leading to it, the guards, as they got closer, seemed to be extremely tense. The whole situation on their world was probably quite a daunting prospect to them.

They soon stopped outside the main entrance, where Terra suggested no more then ten of his troops come with him, while the rest 'keep an eye out on the castle grounds'. The troops saluted, and begun spreading out around the castle grounds…especially at where the guards were stationed…

Terra, with his small squad of men, followed the young Vivi and two other guards to the balcony where Garnet, Steiner and Beatrix were, watching over the city. Garnet stood up, and moved away from her chair, nodded at Terra. "Welcome Terra, we humbly hope there isn't a problem with the agreement we have with General Grievous."

"Indeed not. But the issue I wish to speak to you about, I would prefer to be just to you, and your two top officers here." Terra motioned at Beatrix and Steiner.

Garnet nodded without thinking. "Of course." And ordered her guards to leave, including Vivi, leaving her, Steiner and Beatrix, with Terra and his ten troops, as the door to the hall leading to the balcony finally closed.

"So, Terra, what seems to be the matter?" The ruler of Alexandria asked, noticing the eerie brief silence once Vivi and the others departed.

"The matter is that you need to surrender over back to the Shinra Federation." the voice was from one the troopers belonging to the Keyblader, as eight of them suddenly raised their rifles at Beatrix and Steiner.

Then, the remaining men removed their helmets, showing them to be Sun Shang Xiang, and Cao Cao, who gave Garnet a rather, smug, smile. "Lady Garnet, captains of the guards, Steiner, Beatrix. A pleasure to meet all three of you."

Steiner quickly grabbed his sword as Beatrix grabbed hers, holding them ready, but uncertainty was showing on their faces, as the troopers stayed ready.

Cao Cao calmly got on the com-link. "Link, report on the outer perimeter. Is it secure?"

"All done Cao Cao, just rounding up the guards out here, don't think those inside have noticed yet." Link answered.

"Jak? Status?"

"Alexandria guards ain't the smartest sort, are they? We've got them all huddled in the middle of the armoury, along with the monkey boy that led us here. The guys did a good job, not one of the guards suspected us." Jak responded down the com-link.

Cao Cao had made sure his com-link was turned up loud enough for the others to hear, especially Garnet.

"…." Garnet looked to Terra.

"I've chosen to work with Cao Cao. Queen Garnet, I implore you to stand down. You didn't want your people directly dragged into this feud." Terra spoke first, before Cao Cao continued it.

"And yet you wanted to return to being the central power on this world…without committing to anything other then guarding a depot. Keaton will look to you unfavourably. You never will gain anything from this battle if you won't commit any sacrifices…what if you showed that to Rufus Shinra?"

Garnet looked to the Wei king. "Rufus would rather allow Cid to keep control."

"Would he? I'm sure he would appease you by granting you a position in the business of this world again, like he will for the Burmecians after this. A three way joint effort between your kingdoms for this world, even out the burden of responsibility. Show you'll pull your weight, and he'll take notice." Cao Cao suggested.

Garnet knew that if she rejects them, she could die. Zidane could die, so really, with that in mind, they could just surrender, yet Cao Cao has pointed out the plus points to turning back over to Rufus, trying to manipulate the side that's already lost into action, when he could demand she tell her entire force to give up. "…You tongue is covered in silver, and shaped like a vipers, Cao Cao. Yet, I cannot help but listen…perhaps it is wiser to return to present, instead of fighting on the side of the doomed past…"

She turned and looked at Beatrix. "Beatrix, rally the guards and soldiers, as many as you can, we will prepare for combat."

She then looked to Steiner. "Ready the airships for launch, we'll bombard Grievous's main force."

Finally, she focused back to Terra, Sun Shang Xiang and Cao Cao, and bowed to them. "The people of Alexandria will submit back to the Shinra Federation, and help drive out the Galactic Federation. Grievous's armoury is all yours."

Terra nodded, relieved slightly, before looking to the Wei Ruler, who was already back on the com-link. "Link, let the guards go. The people of Alexandria are on our side. Jak, shut down the communication systems entirely, let Zidane and the others go, and give the guards whatever weapons we have there. We're going to march against Grievous very soon."

He looked to Terra momentarily. "Once the com system is down, change your frequency and contact your friends to come to Alexandria. Tell them the truth, the whole truth. That will decide their real loyalties."

Then, Cao Cao got back on his com-link. "Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan…rally the men and women of the North Gate, the battle will soon commence."

* * *

"Oh man…I really don't feel good right now…"

"Chad, Medi has always informed us to be weary on the intake of restoration battlechips, it's known that rapid activation can cause nausea and sickness in most beings, including Navis themselves."

Chad was currently sitting down on a patch of grass, within the armoury belonging to Yuan Shao, steel walls all around, several communication dishes and computers around, crates and crates of equipment, most which had been raided now by the order of Guo Tu, leaving mostly food crates, and the odd weapon crate.

Standing close to him, was a tall, muscled man, who was tanned all over, had face paint on, and a bandanna with a feather sticking out. This was T Hawk, as he prefers everyone to call him. A street fighter from Earth X who joined the Hero Base three years ago to have a more calm life…he joined the march because he was actually bored.

Chad had been on the borderline of puking for the last twenty minutes. He got himself extra restoration chips, and pretty much used them all at once, ranging from 10 healing, which is more or less for minor bruising and the smallest cuts, to 300 healing, which is for torn, damaged limbs.

Chad had about three of the 300, 7 of the 50, and 2 of the 10. So to sum up he used three for torn limbs, seven for decent cuts and major bruising, and two for the odd little cut.

The effect it had on him was…expected. The wounds were all cleared up, in return, he was sick as a dog, and high as a kite, having to just sit there and moan and groan, feeling his stomach wanting to hurl, and knows it in pain, but his mind is so gone right now, it can't register such.

"Ugh…how's our new guard buddy doing?" Chad managed to ask.

T Hawk looked over to three of crates lined up.

On top of them, was Chunyu Qiong, snoring his head off, his spear on the ground.

"His…busy." T Hawk answered.

He noticed that the guards in the place were often looking over to Chunyu and shaking their heads in disgust. Some of were saying he was like this during the time he had to defend Wu Chao back on Earth V, and of course, he failed miserably. They warned T Hawk about it, and suggested he takes the lead for now. He declined politely, reminding them it was Yuan Shaos call, and suggested to them perhaps he is like a raging buffalo when forced awake, a man who could spring into action the second he needs to.

T Hawk rarely ever got laughed at before. Most of the troops here had done so though when he said that to them.

The large man for a moment, focused back on Chad, before hearing the sound of a transport vessel coming in overhead, making him look up and check, quickly noticing the mark on the sides of the ship. "Great sitting bulls ghost! It's an ambush! Galactic Federation ship! Everyone get ready for battle!"

There were about ten crossbow men here out of all the guards, and they quickly aimed and fired at the ship, the shields of the transport easily protecting the hull from any damage, before the shields shut off, and the hatch to the vessel opened.

Diving out of the hatch, were multi coloured Keyblade armor wearers, wielding all kinds of Keyblades, as the last one to leap out, was Ventus, who quickly pressed his hand on the pauldron he wore, triggering his own armor, as he landed the rest of his allies, who quickly scattered all over the place in rapid speeds, targeting the guards, who were quickly in a panic over the arrivals. "KEYBLADE WARRIORS! WE'RE DONE FOR!"

Keybladers were known in the Federation and on many planets as warriors who normally are by themselves, fighting elements of 'darkness', be it heartless or monsters, whatever they targeted, it got killed. It has been said that a group of ten can easily take down twelve times that number of regular Galactic Federation troopers. The only downfall was their armour was dangerously light, and was easy to piece with psychical attacks, since it's more designed for magic, energy and element protection, rather then brute force.

And seeing five hundred of these people jump down to visit you, is easily a morale breaking scene.

Chunyu Qiong mumbled and moved himself slowly off the crates, as the cries of his troops were heard. "What, what going on now? What is it? A fire? Balls of ice? Giant enemy lizards?" he slurred out, as his eyes were half open, while he fiddled around, feeling for his spear.

One Keyblader, a woman by the looks of it, quickly noticed him, and dashed to where he was, ready to hack him down…before she found her face guard had been gripped by the hand of T Hawk, who slammed her hard into the ground, stunning her, as she tried to figure out what just happened.

T Hawk didn't give her the time to. He let go, and raised his huge foot up, smashing it down on her head. When he moved his foot away, the helmet was crushed inwards, blood was seen seeping out the sides, as the woman's body twitched for a while, before going still. "Chunyu! We are under attack! Rally the troops! NOW!" he managed to say, before another Keyblader caught his attention, coming at him and trying to take him down.

"Huh!? We're under attack?!" Chunyu was starting to wake up fully now, noticing his guard force was being hacked down at a quickened pace. He grabbed his spear, trying to stand up straight and focus, managing to just avoid one Keyblader's attack, and impaled the guy right through the chest with the vibrospear he had, really by sheer luck, as he seemed to fail to notice the kill he just did, until he tried to kindly ask the Keyblade warrior to let go of his spear.

Chad noticed the carnage, and forced himself onto his feet, getting the Blade of Darkness out and ready…but he couldn't focus at all, his entire body felt ill and num. worst timing too, as three of the keybladers noticed him, and were running at him now. "…Fuck…if it isn't a pirate looking guy, it's Keyblades…I'm done for."

As all three got close, Chad noticed they seemed to slow down, then come to a complete stop…not just them though, the entire place had done so. Everyone was still, frozen in mid air strikes, stabs, and slashes.

Chad then heard an all too familiar voice. "You cannot die here. I will relieve you of the ailments in which you suffer from, and deal with the three before you…as well as grant you yet another power, from the blade of Primus."

Zuo Ci. He was behind Chad, looking at his Tarot cards.

The mobian boy seemed to be able to move, and turned around, facing the deity. "Another ability? Like the explosion one?"

"Indeed. It is called Silfarion. Speed is it's gift, in exchange, the blade itself is lighter, and it loses from of its power behind the attacks. Use it to strike shock into your foes, use it stab their weakness, before they can protect it."

With that, the cries of battle returned to Chads ears, as Zuo Ci vanished, and behind Chad, the three keybladers who were after him, were on the ground, in several sliced pieces.

He felt more awake, more alive again. He was back to normal, and it felt great. Good timing as well, as yet another Keyblader was coming over, noticing his three allies hacked down. "Shinra scum!"

Chad quickly got his sword ready. "Alright…let's try this new trick. Silfarion!"

He felt it right away, his blade felt so much lighter, like he was carrying almost nothing at all. He quickly thrust the blade forwards which the Keyblader dodged, and before the guy could attack, had quickly swung it sideways, knocking the warrior off his feet and hitting the ground, the attack came at a blink of an eye to the key wielder, and before he could get up, Chad had stabbed the Blade of Darkness right into the back of the warrior…once, twice, three times, each time the blade slipped in, slicing through the armor and flesh, and back out with ease, by the third stab in, the warrior had finally let go of his body, and his soul left to the Farplanes.

Chad just had a hard time getting over how easy it was to swing his sword now, as he moved away from the body, smiling. "Well…this should be fun."

* * *

Meanwhile, Tian Feng had to run.

He saw the transport ship, he saw the type of men that jumped off it. He had to get to Yuan Shao fast. Yuan Shao, of all times, had now begun to march with the rear lines of his entire force, towards the South Gate. Tian Feng had chosen to stay behind and monitor things. "YUAN SHAO! LORD YUAN SHAO!"

Thankfully, Yuan Shao didn't lack in the hearing department, and stopped, which caused Guo Tu, who had been next to him, to do the same, both turning to see a slightly red in the face Tian come up to them. "Tian Feng what is it now? Do you want to object to the plans again?"

"My lord! The Armoury! LOOK!" Was all he had to say, pointing over to the forest.

Yuan sighed, and looked over…his calm, relaxed and slightly annoyed facial expression turned to horror. "Is…is that a Galactic Federation vessel!?"

"Yes sir! And they've deployed a raiding force! I heard screams of panic from the men inside! I need some troops to come away from the main force and help reinforce it!" Tian Feng demanded.

Guo Tu was quick to go against, as always. "Tian Feng, remember who guards it. Chunyu Qiong is a capable man. Yuan Shao ignore him. We need to focus everyone on the push."

Yuan Shao though, was just staring in the direction of the armoury…he had just gone silent.

"My lord please! We need to protect it! If we lose that armoury that's our food supply, remaining weapons, and our communication system all lost! Our troops will lose their confidence completely!"

"Don't listen to Tian. We just need to fight on! We have Chunyu Qiong protecting it!"

"The same guy that failed us at Wu Chao Yuan Shao!"

That caused Yuan Shao to quickly turn and stare at Tian Feng.

"I know you don't want to recall that battle, I know we all agreed to keep talks about few and far, but you're falling down that same route! Grievous is Cao Cao to you! And the battle is about to go the same way if you don't ACT to save that armoury!"

Yuan Shao shook his head. "No. We had also agreed the battle was of your fault as well as-"

"My lord look at the situation now! I wasn't at Guan Du! I'm here instead! And I'm demanding you rescue that armoury before Chunyu Qiong, in his drunken state, ruins everything again!" Tian Feng shouted at him.

…Yuan Shao had closed his eyes for a moment, and he felt himself return to that time.

"_Yan Liang and Wen Chou have been forced to retreat by Guan Yu and Cao Cao respectively! Our frontline assault has failed!"_

"_Wu Chao is aflame! We can't salvage anything from it!"_

"_Several units have defected to Cao Cao! Our assault on Guan Du castle has failed!"_

"_Bai Ma and Yan Jin forts have been retaken by Cao Cao's army, giving them direct access across the river to attack our main camp! We can't stop them! Our men are either being slaughtered like animals or surrendering over to Wei!"_

"_Retreat! All units! Retreat!"_

There he was, in the middle of his camp. Torches burning brightly nearby him, a huge, white tent stationed behind him, wooden huts filled with supplies and weapons, wooden walls around the place…his main camp.

A bitter wind was blowing, the night sky above…a full moon…

In the distance, he saw it, the orange glow…

Wu Chao burned brightly.

…He was so sure he had it all right. He had it all figured out…He was deeply angered, hurt, and frustrated. He remembered ordering his elite troops to follow him to the front, while the rest of his forces fled, he wanted to end this once and for all.

All this due to Cao Cao's close friendship with the emperor of Earth V. He wanted to force Cao Cao, his old friend, to submit. Wei's territory was literally next door to the Han territory. If Yuan Shao forced Cao Cao to give in, he would have those lands, he would be directly next to the emperor, his family would finally have their place as guardians of the Han dynasty. The Yuan Kingdom would be their sword…

The High Ministers eventually saw his worth, and placed him in a position with them. It was only right he would be seen as a guard to their great leader on Earth V too. That was his destiny…

To take Cao Cao's place as a royal guard. To stand with Grand King He Jin, and the other three royal guards, Dong Zhuo of the kingdom of Qishan, Liu Bei of the kingdom of Shu, and of course, his half brother, Yuan Shu of the kingdom of Zhong…

And he failed.

The next part flickered into his mind, falling down onto his rear, his sword sliding across the ground behind him, and standing there before him, Cao Cao…along with Xiahou Dun, Cao Cao's son Cao Pi, and his two bodyguards, Dian Wei and Xu Zhu…

"_C-curse you Cao Cao! I suppose you plan to kill me now, is that it!? End me and take my lands for your own!?"_

Cao Cao slowly shook his head, looking disappointed at his old friend. _"Enough Yuan Shao. I know the truth. That was your plan all along with me, before I turned this battle on it's head."_

Yuan Shao was surprised. Cao Cao knew of way this war was occurring.

"_I have my informants Yuan Shao. An officer that you had told me all about why you suddenly declared me an enemy of the Han."_ He then showed disgust. _"You planned to steal my land, my kingdom, merely because of a title I was granted by the emperor, is one you want…is that all that matters to you now? Does friendship mean so little in your mind? Have you forgotten who it is you have chosen to attack? Your only childhood friend?"_

Yuan Shao couldn't answer, he stammered, tried to find some words.

"_Your failure in battle, was the fact you refuse to fight with your men, to stand with them at times, and relied only on yourself, refusing to listen to your advisors in midst of chaos. I knew you would overlook Wu Chao, I knew breaking that would break the morale of your men, and you would not be able to recover from it. I took the lead, I went to Wu Chao, I lit the torches, I burnt the place…while you sat on your thumbs, and watched, instead of sending help…and my men gain confidence from me, who stand before you now, while yours have died, surrendered or fled before us."_

_I took the lead._

_I went to Wu Chao._

_I lit the torches._

_I burnt the place._

_My men gain confidence from me…_

_Your failure…_

_Failure…_

Yuan Shao found himself now, back in the present time. Tian Feng looking at him. "My lord I need an answer now!"

The king of Yuan looked down at his armor…his shining golden armor, and knew, he had to do this right. "…Guo Tu, lead the attack with my son and the others on the land beyond the South Gate. Tian Feng, we will take two thousand men from the rear force and lead the rescue!"

Tian Feng looked, genuinely surprised, before quickly bowing, as Yuan Shao quickly got on the com-link, to rally the men he wanted. "Yes my lord!"

* * *

Back at the armoury, things weren't looking at their best right now.

Chunyu Qiong finally clicked on what was going on, but decided instead of fighting whilst drunk, he cowardly chose to hide between several crates, hoping things will turn out fine by itself..if not, well, like Wu Chao, he could always run away and say to Yuan Shao it was the failing of others again.

The guard count was about two hundred left. They had managed to gather together near the center of the armoury to make a stand after the chaos and confusion at the start.

They were being picked off by the keybladers quick though. Several troops were dieing each second thanks to the speedy strikes of their enemy.

T Hawk and Chad were with the remaining guards. Chad was…enjoying this. The odds are badly stacked, but with this new ability, he was easily matching the Keyblade wielders without having to waste his own energy, and seeing them die…it…was making him feel, something that he shouldn't be.

Pleasure.

Anything else he killed, it normally just brought relief that he'll live for a while more…since this fight started, and his been normal again, each time he sees one of the enemy fall to the floor, twitching, struggling to live, and he kills them, it felt, good.

Sadly his killing hasn't knocked that many of the numbers down, there were still at least four hundred something of the Keyblade wielders, dodging, blocking attempted attacks on their life, and hacking down the guards.

It was as the guard count went down under a hundred, Ventus, as he moved back and let the others have a go, got a call on his com-link. "Ventus reporting General."

"It's Terra, Ven."

That made Ventus stop and listen. "Terra? What is it?"

"It's over Ven. Grievous doesn't realize it yet, but Alexandria has surrendered. The North Gate is now controlled by what was the enemy, and Aqua, Kei and Dark Rich have already left the planet…it's done."

"Wait, wait go back a bit. 'what was the enemy'?" Ventus turned away from the fighting going down in the middle of the armoury.

"…I've joined the Hero Base Faction. I don't want us to go down with the Galactic Federation. The Shinra Federation has them all figured out. We're going to war on the losing side, the whole campaign is destined to fall apart. I want you to come to Alexandria, with the Keyblade unit. Join us and we'll get master Eraqus to listen, together. We'll convince him to break away from this before we lose too many lives."

"Terra, I, I don't know. I mean, we don't want to be ruled by the Shinra. Rufus is a monster…"

"We're not going to hand ourselves to the Shinra Ven. We'll work with the Hero Faction, maybe we can get them to speak on our behalf when this is over to get our world off the target list of Shinra, once Rufus finds out we were a part of it. We have to try, right? We haven't got a hope in hell otherwise."

That's when the massive doors of the armoury busted open, and charging in, were hundreds and hundreds of Yuan troops, vibroswords and vibrospears at the ready, all shouting "FOR GLORY! FOR YUAN SHAO!"

And in front of the attack force, was the man himself, wielding a rapier sword, charging straight at Ventus, who quickly dived out of the way, and shut off his com-link, getting his Keyblade ready, as Yuan Shao then ignored him, and charged at the others, with several of his troops instead targeting Ven.

All the keybladers now saw, was a wave of gold filling the place.

Yuan Shao had sent his troops to surround the place, and in a joint movement, from all four entrance points, charged in. All eager, all proud to see their leader taking command and telling them what to do with them, instead of far away. Their morale was at an all time high.

And it showed in combat. Their confidence helped them remain calm before the counter attack of the keybladers, who managed to kill quite a few of the newcomers, but were quickly losing their own. Even the remaining three dozen guards of the original unit here were inspired by seeing Yuan Shao, and suddenly fought much more fiercer then before, determined to go down fighting at their best.

Ventus found himself in the middle of a wave of enemies, taking down what he could, and looking up at the transport vessel, hovering there, left on auto, awaiting for a pilot to take over again. The sudden reinforcements and the strength they brought convinced him now. "EVERYONE! RETREAT! THE RAID IS A FAILURE! LET'S MOVE IT PEOPLE! WE'RE RETREATING TO ALEXANDRIA!"

Keybladers quickly begun changing their Keyblades into vehicles, from surfboards to bikes, as they attempted to escape, flying back up to the ship, disabling their vehicle, and landing on the opening.

Ventus was ready to do the same thing, finally getting some space after knocking back several men, but someone suddenly ran at him, and swung his sword at a deadly speed, causing Ventus to abandon his retreat and block the attack…and another, and another, in rapid succession. He only saw brief glimpses of the sword each time…before he felt the sword impale him, right into the stomach, briefly lifting him off the ground, the whole weapon going into him, as he finally saw the face of the user…

Chad stood there, an evil look of joy on his face. He tossed Ventus to the floor, by swinging his weapon sidewards, the Keyblader rolling a little, crying in agony, before coming to a stop on his stomach. He begun to try and force himself to crawl, hoping he could hide somewhere for a moment, to try and recover.

Chad didn't let him. He walked over, looking at the wounded boy, and ended his life, by piecing the blade through the back of his skull, and through his face, into the ground.

That felt really good, hearing the bone crunch a little as the blade went in…Chad enjoyed that. He pulled his sword out, and turned, noticing whatever was left of the keybladers, had successfully got on the transport vessel, and sealed the hatch, before taking off, back in the direction of Alexandria, away from the cheers of Yuan Shao's force.

Chad snapped out of this…euphoria he felt with the killing, noticing the cheering, and before he knew it, he saw Yuan Shao walking up to him. "Chad Malyan! I am glad to see you are still ok! As you can see, I, Yuan Shao, had come with reinforcements at the right time!"

Chad nodded in agreement, smiling at him a little. "Yeah, ya did. Thanks, I don't think we would've lasted longer since, ya know, T Hawk and me were trying our best, and your guards were making an effort, despite the fact that drunken officer guy did nothing but hide."

"I'll deal with him later. For now, we march again! I'll leave all the troops here, and we'll go and rejoin the front! Tian Feng! I leave the armoury to you and Chunyu Qiong!"

Tian Feng bowed, smiling as he did. He was proud of Yuan Shao, proud that he finally done something right.

The armoury had been saved.

Yuan Shao had ordered all communication channels to be accessed, as he wanted this victory to be heard across the battlefield, he wanted to tell his frontline men, he wanted people to know, he did the right thing, and to rub it in Grievous's face.

* * *

Cao Cao had allowed Grievous to hear of it, making sure the communication system belonging to the Galactic Federation picked up on the news.

Out in the plains, Grievous and his entire force had heard it. They saw the transport ship retreating to Alexandria…

"Hold strong, men of the Yuan! The armoury was been secured and saved from an assault by yours truly! Now I'm coming to rejoin the front itself! I want everyone to show Grievous the true might of my army! Let none of the Galactic troopers stand in your way! They are mere peons compared to our army! Forward! To glory!"

Grievous growled at hearing this, quickly ordering his forces to focus on the South Gate and prepare to slaughter the entire Yuan force.

Cao Cao knew now, was the perfect time, the first thing he did, was shut off the Galactic communication system entirely, then, while Terra stayed behind with several dozen men, and Queen Garnet, Zidane and Vivi, he deployed the troops of Alexandria, no longer hiding in GF armour, marching with Link, Sun Shang Xiang and Steiner. Lifting off from the city, were several airships, armed to the teeth, being commanded by both Jak, and Beatrix.

With this, Cao Cao signalled the North Gate forces to move out, led by Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan, Freya and Fratley, a combined march of Burmecians and Wei troops.

The news, very soon, got to Grievous. As he just finished ordering his forces, one of the troopers contacted him on the com-link, all of his men listening in. "Sir! Enemy forces have been sighted coming from the North Gate! It seems to be thousands of them!"

Grievous answered the call. "Seems to be? I want a report! Get in contact with the communication center and get them to listen in to the enemy channels!"

"I, I can't sir! There's no response from them! That's because of the other bit of news I have! Alexandria troops have been spotted charging out from the city! Airships have been launched as well! We don't know their numbers either!"

Grievous quickly looked over to the grand castle in the distance, as did many of the troops around him…and indeed, there were airships, heavily armed ones too…his men were quickly talking amongst themselves in worry. "…They're not coming to aid us. If the communication center has stopped responding, then they've defected…and Terra…the North Gate…"

He snarled, adding everything up. "Cao Cao…"

One of the nearby men quickly spoke to him. "General, if, if we've lost our armoury and communications, that means we can't get in contact with anyone off this world, even our warships right? We can't call for additional ships to come and get us when we want to retreat…right?"

The cyborg looked at the trooper, then to the rest of his men around him. The news was a crippling hit on morale, as anyone could deduce, they were about to be struck in three directions. He quickly got take on his com-link "Abandon the kill zone of the South Gate! I want all units to circle round in the central plains, we'll take a defensive stance against this three way barrage! We have the technology to outfight them!"

The response from his men showed clear signs they are unsure, they seemed to struggle to trust each other right now, and now with all this slapped on top…

His battle was over. He couldn't admit it to them, instead, he personally gathered as many men as he could, and told them a different plan. "We are moving to Treno, to the transport ships."

One of them sounded surprised. "Sir?"

"While our forces move to this position, we'll make a swift retreat, once there, I'll contact the rest to surrender. The battle is lost. While they receive the mercy of the Shinra, we'll fall back to the Gardener and head towards Earth X to see what happens with Keaton…I knew this entire idea would fail, too few troops, too little preparation… and while I am determined to not surrender yet, I won't let those here die a needless death. Once we're safely on the ships, it'll end."

"…Yes sir."

Those tens of thousands of men left behind at the central plains wondered where Grievous and his few thousand men were running off to, but, did as they were told, despite the odds, and formed up, taking a defensive stance, while Yuan Shao's army were coming from the South Gate, Cao Cao's army from the North Gate, and Alexandria forces, complete with airships, from the northeast.

The cannon fire from the airships struck first. Blasting holes in their ranks. They attempted to fire back with their rifles, but the energy shots were merely doing little burnt marks on the vessels, as they continued to unleash hell. Then, along came Yuan Shao's army, having increased their speed to chase the retreating enemy to their new location. The shock force was now formed up, and with the advance shield party leading the way, it require plenty more times the ammo just to take down a few of the men, compared to the normal shielding. Mixed with the crossbow troopers firing whenever an opening occurred, the GF troopers, several units of them, begun to drop their weapons and surrender.

Cao Cao, and the Alexandria army soon arrived and attacked, at the same time so did Cao Cao's actual main force, led by Xiahou Dun, dividing up the Galactic troopers more so to handle the desperate situation, their numbers now dropping by the hundreds at a rapid pace.

Before long, there were several transport ships seen in the sky, heading off into space. There was momentary confusion in the GF ranks, untill they all got a call, from General Grievous. "Stand down. Gaia IX is lost. It's obvious we cannot win here, not with the number Keaton had given us, combined with the doubt you have, and the loss we have suffered, I can only hope you are given mercy by the Shinra Federation…Lower your weapons. That is my last order. I will not forget any of you for your bravery on this day."

A wave of guns fell to the ground, the attacking forces stopped, noticing the GF troopers were going down on their knees and putting their hands behind their heads in submission.

It took a good hour or so, but soon enough, the Galactic Federation troop force was rounded up, and began to be escorted onto transport vessels of the SF, sent by the allied warships above, which broke off their attack with the Galactic Federation, when the Gardener and the two other warships managed to retreat, leaving only one enemy vessel, crippled and unable to get into warp, they sent a signal of surrender.

As the GF army was being taken away, Cao Cao had been watching, when Terra, and around two hundred and forty Keyblade warriors came up to the man. "Cao Cao. This is all what was left of the raid team. They have accepted surrender, but only to you and the Hero Base Faction."

Cao Cao nodded. "Excellent. I've already got a few transport vessel picking up your force from the North Gate, but instead of following the others, it's going to go into alpha warp, and head to my home planet. They'll be treated like royal guests there, and I've already procured power armour for them to take."

"Cao Cao?"

"I'm going to reform them into my own elite trooper force. I can't hand them over along with the others." He turned away, watching the transport vessels with the captives fly away.

"Why not? They are a part of that force."

"Rufus will no doubt place a few of these people on the firing line. I don't want those I've captured having to risk that." Cao Cao answered, turning back to face Terra, noticing the grim look on his face. "That's why I won't hand over this fine, if small, force. They too, shall be sent to my homeworld, and receive a warm welcome."

Terra looked at Cao Cao, and gave a small smile. "Thank you. But speaking of these people…I need to see your armoury. Yuan Shao's, armoury…one of my friends I was concerned over…is there."

* * *

There was an eerie silence.

Terra, Cao Cao, Xiahou Dun and Jak had personally journeyed to the armoury, which was now currently empty, as Tian Feng and Chunyu Qiong had left to see their leader, along with the troops, leaving the corpses of the dead behind.

Terra had eventually found Ventus.

He slowly rolled his friend over, so his face could see the sky again…

The helmet was badly damaged, there was a hole in the front…it showed a part of Ventus' pale, blood covered face…

Terra stared for a good few, long moments, before he slowly moved the helmet off, detaching it, letting his friend's head be shown to everyone. Gently putting the helmet aside, he put his hands into the armor, shaking as he did. He felt what he was after, slowly, bringing it into view, and moving it over the head of his lost friend.

The wayfinder. A very much believed good luck charm to those who wear them. Often they were made from something called thalassic shells, but Aqua had made herself, Terra and Ventus one each of different material, as the shells were hard to get. She gave them so that they would always be together…

The green glass of Ventus' wayfinder shined ever so slightly in the sunlight, as Terra clutched it tightly, and grieved, tears quickly appearing and rushing down his face, as he held the item close to his head, pain swelling up inside, knowing that they had been separated…

Cao Cao slowly stepped over, and gently placed a hand on Terra's shoulder, looking to the body, as the Keyblader wept, and knowing of the name of the dead, as Terra had said prior to their arrival, he spoke these words. "Be at peace, Ventus, beloved friend of Terra and Aqua. May Azrael guide you to the ever lasting rest of the Farplanes, where your forefathers await your arrival…"

Jak and Xiahou Dun made their way over, and stood with Cao Cao. Jak then said a few words. "Though you have left our realm, free from pain and suffering, we can only grieve at our loss, while you venture to a new world, an eternal time of joy awaits you."

"The creator smiles at all life, no matter how long, how short it's time here is…" Xiahou Dun had slowly looked around, at the other bodies, before continuing. "You have friends following you, those who gave their lives. We pray for them as we do for you. We hope you all find peace in paradise…while we wait, for the day, we shall see you again. Praise be to Azrael, to our creator…" he finished, before focusing back on Terra.

Terra continued to cry out, unable to say anything, to express his pain any other way, but, he had heard them, heard them speak the passing prayer of the Azrael belief, and was thankful, in his heart, that they even bothered to.

* * *

All of the officers who partook in the battle, had now gathered back in Cid Fabools throne room, including the likes of Queen Garnet, Freya, Zidane, Steiner, Terra and such.

Hua Xiong, Yan Liang and Wen Chou were also present, albeit a bit bandaged up and recovering, but otherwise, they were alive.

Cao Cao had explained what he had been doing the entire time Yuan Shao had been busy fretting over the South Gate, this was backed by Sir Fratley, Freya, Terra and Queen Garnet, with the last still slightly unhappy with having to admit she had been made to defect over.

Yuan Shao was a little peeved. "You mean to say you used me to keep Grievous and his troops distracted?!"

"Of course. And as it showed, it made you act. I'm most impressed Yuan Shao. I had actually expected you to allow the armoury to fall, but instead, you saved it, and saved your forces from the brink of losing all hope. If I told you the plan, you would've told everyone, including Grievous, as he was listening in. That would've made the battle go against us, Queen Garnet would not have submitted, and the North Gate would of held out against me." Cao Cao explained.

Yuan Shao still wasn't happy, but his features did soften a little. "Well, I suppose if it weren't for you, I would never have gained a victory that inspired my men, reminding them of who they serve…nor would I have figured out a weakness in my ranks."

His focus went to Chunyu Qiong, who was a bit sober now, looking down in shame…he tried to make an excuse when Yuan Shao demanded an explanation for the guard force being so scattered and in a panic when the raid came, but T Hawk and Chad were against him, eventually making him admit he was drunk before even getting here.

Cid was sitting back on his throne, looking at them all. "Well, I'm just glad Gaia IX belongs to us fully once again. I now have to wonder what I should do with Garnet though…"

Cao Cao was quick to respond. "Cid, you had agreed to fair trading and shares with the Burmecians, did you not once this little war was over? Grant Garnet the same deal, and never again will there be a risk of her turning against you. Her main reason for doing so was because all power was taken from her in the first place. Correct that."

Cid thought about this for a moment, before nodding. "Well, Rufus did say all business on this world was under my command…and I don't want to fight the daughter of an old friend. I accept the idea, so long as Garnet does."

She nodded, relieved. "I promise to support you fully in return, Cid."

Chad was ignoring the meeting, due to the fact he had a call from Dr Wily. "Doc?"

"Chad, I already got the news that Gaia IX is secure. I'm to have you teleported from there to RE886 station. it's obvious now is our best time to strike. I'm also going to send Roll, Shademan, Anna, Zhang He, Megaman, Serious Sam and Charlie with you. All you need to do is get in, get Richard, get back out. Simple enough?"

Chad wanted to argue about sending Anna and Roll, but another part of him just said 'screw it, get in and out, quick and easy, they'll be fine.'. "Alright doc. Send me as soon as you can."

* * *

Grievous was standing over one of his officers, while they were at one of the bridge computers. "This is GFS Gardener to RE886, please respond."

Static.

"RE886. We are in need of an update of the current situation of the campaign across the Federation. Please reply."

Nothing.

"RE886. We have lost Gaia IX, I repeat, Gaia IX, can you update us on all current battles?"

The officer sighed and sat back, looking up at Grievous as yet again, there was a lack of response. "Nothing sir. It's dead over there. Either an electric storm has currently engulfed them, or it's been attacked."

Grievous thought about this for a moment, before he turned away, and walked up to the center of the bridge. "Then we have little choice but to watch over our Grand Commander. This whole thing is going to hell, but we cannot risk Keaton losing his life. Continue on our course to Earth X!"

* * *

"How long before we reach RE886?"

A machine voice responded "At current emergency delta warp, one hour and twenty five minutes. Warning, emergency delta warp is depleting all reserves. If warp used for one hour and thirty minutes, all fuel reserves will be depleted, and the vessel will be adrift, as it will not have impulse, would you like to auto set a distress signal for this occurrence?"

"No."

Dark Rich was the one who speak, sitting in the pilot seat, with Aqua and Kei standing nearby…Kei kept looking at the dead corpse of an engineer nearby.

"So, we're heading back to get our own warship?" Aqua asked the clone.

"Yes."

"Why are we abandoning the GF again, precisely?"

"Because I don't trust Keaton. He will not let Kei live. You are her friend, that's why I grabbed you as well." The clone lied.

"You think he would try and kill the daughter of a High Minister? Really? I think he would rather keep her around for political reasons." Aqua argued.

Kei though, seemed to be listening in, and agreed with Dark Rich. "It does make sense. Keaton never did really like the ministers. I found it odd he was okay with me being around, but I suspect that's because he wanted me to help with his cloning experiments…and since that's been done…"

"Precisely. We can't give him the chance." Dark Rich was checking the systems while they continued to remain and warp speed.

"Okay, but why don't we do as Terra called me up for? Surrender over to the Hero Base Faction? Him and Ventus have bound to by now. And maybe we can get Master Eraqus to listen too. Why are we heading back to RE886?" Aqua questioned.

Dark Rich looked over to Kei. "She used to say about a few friends on that station, said about a powerful vessel that belonged to a pirate force that's been placed in reserve. I figure we get them and the ship, and figure out what to do from there."

Kei knew who he was talking about, when he mentioned her friends. "Jack Electel, Iroaya Maddy and Hinoken Match…I know those three have been working on the vessel while I was busy with the cloning…I hope they like the idea of escaping the GF with us."

* * *

Huang Zhong was pissed off. "What do you mean you can't reactivate the communication systems!?"

One of the men, dressed in a blue overall, who was currently in the main computer area of RE886, was desperately trying to fixed the system…the trap Chaos had laid was a crap ton of viruses and bugs. It pretty much killed the entire system, the stations shields were offline, their weapons were shut down, and all communications, the main focus of this place, was dead.

It only fully triggered, when Huang Zhong noticed a lack of updates on the fights against the Shinra Federation. He tried to access the system, and bam, the whole thing went haywire on him. "Get me something at least! What about the emergency channels!? Can't you get them back online?!"

"I'm trying sir!"

Huang Zhong swore under his breath. "That damned Chaos! I knew he was playing us! I knew I should've kept an eye on him myself!"

* * *

Then, there was Chaos.

He was standing there, in a dimly lit room, looking at several computer panels, trying to figure them out.

He was in the main computer room of Unicron's head. The place where his brain would be if he was a humanoid. The glass ball filled with frozen liquid was seen still in the middle of the orange steel room, wires covering the ceiling leading to the glass ball, the lights barely functioning around the place, the computer systems, most had overloaded and been destroyed, except for the several Chaos found.

The hard was the language these machines ran on. It was similar to the Chozo, but that was like saying the Chinese is similar to Japanese. He was trying his hardest to figure it out. A part of him keep saying his seen this all before. "Hm, It's led me back to this screen again…maybe it's this sequence."

Close to the glass ball, was that eerie blade Unicron had used in his battle with Chad and Darkmega, replicas of it anyway. The Master Sword.

Again, Chaos got nowhere. He had nearly tried all of the options he assumed this system was giving him. He had all this time so far to try. He managed to download the whole thing for a complete translation later…if that could be figured out. But he refused to leave without the real prize he was after.

He tried yet another sequence, which seemed to led to a question. Tried one answer, it sent him back to the previous screen, he tried it again, and chose the other answer, red symbols came up, then it returned him to the previous screen again.

The next one after this though, was the one he wanted. It showed a picture of a an orb, and seemed to ask a question. He pressed one answer, then it asked another question, he chose the same answer. The symbols that came up now were green.

One of the few remaining reactors that were stationed in Unicron's head came to life, a distant humming was heard.

As Unicron's body self destructed, a failsafe kicked in whereas the reactors stored in the head location were cut off from the rest of the body, as were most of the systems, to preserve them, then several explosives preset triggered, hurtling the head away from the body to avoid complete annihilation.

What Chaos noticed when he arrived, was that there was a distress beacon active inside the head that he decided to shut down. He couldn't pick it up on any of the known frequencies, meaning this distress signal was very specific to one channel, to one species perhaps.

Whoever created Unicron, wanted it's memory preserved, no doubt to find out what could have destroyed it, if the possibility occurred.

Chaos then noticed a couple of grey lights flickered on, near the glass ball in the center of the room, showing the faint outlines of the humanoid figure inside.

The frozen watery liquid within it, begun to melt. From the bottom, up. As the water unfroze, the figure inside was much more visible, to the point that Chaos could make out it the figure now.

It wore black leather armour all over, with a black cloak with blood red linen inside, dark brown gloves on its hands, its eyes iris colour was blood red, and its skin was tanned slightly, with his hair colour blonde. And what Chaos noticed was, it reminded him of something who lived today, besides the dark clothing.

Link. The hero of Hylian. It was like a twin of him. The only difference being his eye colour, having several black earrings in his ears…and the fact, he had about a dozen wires stabbed into him, keeping him afloat there. Two in each arm, on the wrists and in his shoulders, two in the legs at his feet and his hip, one embedded right in the middle of his back, one right in the middle of his chest, one in the back of his neck, and finally, one, right bang in the middle of his forehead.

Chaos could tell the figure didn't know he was there…for all Chaos knew, he could well be dead in that orb of water. He wasn't moving at all since the water finished melting.

That soon changed, as Chaos had to take a small step back, as the middle of the glass ball begun to open up, and as it did, with the water gushing out and down into small gaps within the floor, the wires violently detached themselves from the Hyrulian, showing very long needles which had been inside the figure all this time, including in his head, brief spurts of blood came from the holes, as the elf fell with the water, and out of the ball, onto the floor.

He vomited up some of the water, and begun moving, trying to gasp for air, writhing on the floor, putting his hands on the cold steel ground, his eyes darting all over, trying to figure out where he was.

Chaos just waited, watched, as the Hyrulian slowly regain his thoughts, where he was, and managed to get some air in his lungs, forcing himself to his knees and hands, getting himself slightly off the ground, his clothing dripping with the liquid, as he coughed over and over. What Chaos noticed, was the holes that the wires attached themselves to, had sealed up…whatever this liquid was, it had the ability to rapidly heal. It left scarring at each point though, and obviously holes in his clothing.

The figure managed to look around again, and noticed Chaos standing there, and nearby, his sword…It's voice was deep, and menacing. "You…I demand to know who you are, that released me from my…our…Unicrons body."

"My name is Chaos. I'm an ally."

The weakened male on the floor glared darkly at Chaos, then looked to his sword again. That's when Chaos noticed it had begun to glow an eerie red, an aura had appeared on it like the replicas had. Before Chaos knew it, the figure had mustered the strength to force himself onto his feet, grab the blade, swing it round, and had it point straight at the enemy of Chads throat. "You are no ally of mine. I am…I am Unicron, the destroyer of life! I am heaven's judgement, and I do not recall any ally like-"

He stopped. His sword was like that of the Dark Wolf, a container of souls, and between their whispers into his mind, which had been gone for so long, they told him something. "-You are familiar."

"Oh?"

"The spirits of the blade recognize you. In a distorted way, you carry the aura of an old friend of mine, a friend that followed me and two others to a different universe so long ago…when, I was called…Diamas. Diamas Link. When I battled evil and defeated darkness, before my greater destiny came." He lowered his sword as he was talking. "Before I was Heaven's Judgement."

"I require your power, Unicron. It's to deal with those that destroyed the rest of your great body." Chaos explained.

Diamas took a moment to think, to recall…then he remembered, his face showing he was seething in rage. "Chad, Darkmega…"

"That's right. I'm planning to destroy them, and I would be foolish to deny someone like you a chance of revenge, wouldn't I? They think you're finished. We can correct that issue."

Diamas looked to Chaos, and smiled evilly. "I like the sound of that."


End file.
